Soupe a l'Oignon Gratinee

My husband is a big fan of French Onion Soup. And, really, what's not to like about sweet onions, broth, bread and cheese? It is featured on so many menus for a good reason.

A few years back, I decided to try my hand at making this tasty treat. Somewhere along the line, I came across a full page, fully illustrated McCall's "Cooking School" lesson on how to make French Onion Soup. The results were pretty good. In the intervening years, we've enjoyed this home-version of a restaurant favorite many times.

Earlier this week, I found I had all of the ingredients on hand for French Onion soup. The changing leaves and cooler fall weather has me longing for soup. As I went looking for my old standby recipe, though, it occurred to me that maybe McCall's isn't the way to go for this dish. On a whim, I opened up my copy of "The French Chef Cookbook," by Julia Child to see what she had to say on the subject. As it turns out, she devoted a whole episode of her show to this marvelous soup.

According to Julia, "to achieve true homemade taste, you'll need a homemade bouillon -- beef bones and shank meat simmered for several hours with the usual carrots, onions, celery, seasonings, and herbs. If your own bouillon is lacking, substitute canned beef bouillon."

Well, I admit, I don't have THOSE ingredients for making my soup. An already opened box of beef stock in the fridge is the real impetus for this particular soup-making adventure. So, guess I'm going to have to take the easy route this time. Maybe someday I'll get myself organized enough to have beef bones and shank meat on hand at the same time I'm craving French Onion Soup. I really like the idea of starting from scratch, but that's just not in the cards at this point in my life.

Julia uses a few more ingredients that McCall's, but I have most of what it takes so I decided to proceed with Julia's Soupe a l'Oignon Gratinee.

Note: I used gruyere cheese instead of swiss and omitted the cognac.

3 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 1/2 lbs. (5-6 cups) thinly sliced yellow onions
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
3 Tbs. flour
2 qts. hot beef bouillon (or dilute canned bouillon with 2 c. water)
1 c. red or white wine (I chose red)
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. sage
salt and pepper to taste
sliced french bread
olive oil or melted butter
optional: 1/4 c. cognac
peeled, 2-in. raw onion
2 oz. piece of swiss cheese
1 1/2 c. grated swiss and parmesan cheese, mixed

pictured: onions at the start of cooking process.

Melt the butter with the oil in a heavy 4-quart saucepan; add the sliced onions and stir. Cover and cook over moderately low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are tender and translucent.

Uncover pan, raise heat, and stir in the salt and sugar. [I've never used sugar before, but according to Julia, "sugar, by caramelizing, helps onions to brown."] Cook, stirring, until onions are deep golden brown, at which point you need to lower the heat to medium and stir in the flour. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes to brown the flour a bit, then remove from heat.

pictured: browned onions after whisking in flour.

Add a cup of hot bouillon, stirring with a whisk to blend. Add the rest of the bouillon and wine, bay leaf, sage and bring up to a simmer. Simmer over low heat for 30-40 minutes and season to taste with salt and pepper.

At this point you can let the soup cool and store in the fridge until you are ready to put on the final touches for serving. Or, if you are ready for dinner (as I was, at this point I had already spent a couple of hours cooking), ladle the soup into a broiler-proof soup tureen, casserole, or individual soup bowls.

Grate a bit of raw onion into the soup, add a little shredded cheese (again, I used Gruyere, but Julia calls for Swiss), then top the soup with a few toasted pieces of French bread (brush the bread with olive oil before toasting). Top the bread with a generous mound of Swiss/Gruyere cheese and a sprinkle of Parmesan.

Cook in a 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes (this really depends on whether you are starting with soup from the fridge or from the stove). When soup is hot, run it under the broiler for just a minute to brown cheese a bit.