French Onion Soup
One of my ALL-TIME favourite dishes… an iconic ✨ French Onion Soup ✨ inspired by the iconic Julia Child. You need to try this immediately. And feel naughty. But good… oh so good because it’s got a healthy glug of Cognac and red wine, all those soft and succulent onions and is topped off by a slab of toasted sourdough with lashings of melted Swiss Gruyere cheese. The perfect meal to enjoy on a cold winters evening by the fire, surrounded by more wine and more Cognac. That’s what makes this one of my go-to meals.
The queen, Julia, has always inspired me because if you watch clips of her show on YouTube, not only does her humour stand up 60 odd years later, but she’s not afraid of making a mistake and laughing it off. Whether it’s dropping the chicken or throwing a bad omelette in the bin, it’s very the style and attitude I look up to. GOOD FOOD AIN’T SCARY – WE ALL MESS UP!! I once accidentally threw away a pork sauce my boss had been making for two days because I thought it was old caramel. Oops. But in making mistakes, we learn and get better (maybe not the pork sauce one though). So let’s make mistakes and laugh about it. Mainly so we don’t cry.
While we’re on the topic of mistakes, check out my collection of TV bloopers and marvel at the fact that I haven’t been banned from live TV yet. Maybe I should invest in some media training, but then again where’s the fun in that.
(Recipe inspired and adapted from the great Julia Child Foundation)
Ingredients
- 2L beef stock
- 680g white onions, chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 3 tbsp flour
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 glug of Cognac
- 3 glugs of red wine
- 1 big chunk of sourbread
- 200g Swiss Gruyere
- 1 bay leaf (optional)
Method
- Add 2tbsp of butter and the olive oil to a pan, before adding all of your onions.
- Add your sugar and wait until caramelised, before adding the remainder of the butter and flour.
- Once that’s looking thick and brown, add in your beef stock, red wine and Cognac, and optional bay leaf.
- Leave for approximately 45-1hr on a medium to low heat until bubbly, rich, brown and thick. Julia at this point adds to the oven, but I’ve kept it on the hob for ease.
- Once ready, pour into your bowl and top with a slice of either stale or toasted bread. Now Julia likes a crouton or two at this point, but personally I like the classic crunchy bread lid like this!
- Cover in your cheese and put back in the oven to melt, before seasoning and serving up ready to dunk!