If the usual first courses have already become a little boring, make French onion soup ... and once again make sure that the French know a lot about cooking. When you taste this soup - fragrant, creamy-silky, warming-thick, delicate in texture and taste - you understand why French kings ate it with pleasure. This dish, already popular for several centuries, is truly royal.
However, absolutely everyone can indulge themselves with onion soup, because the basic ingredient - onions - is available to everyone. It was not for nothing that the forces supported not only royal persons, but also simple Parisian movers at dawn before work. Onion soup will saturate and warm, will delight gourmets and surprise skeptics who doubt that something so tasty can be cooked with onions. Therefore, if you have not tried to cook it yet, I recommend it.
Cooking onion soup takes quite a long time, a total of more than an hour. But it is not difficult at all. And such a tasty dish is worth the time spent. Once you have cooked onion soup, you will want to repeat it again and again, and another favorite recipe for the first dish will appear in your cooking book!
Ingredients for French Onion Soup
- 1 kg of onions;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- 2 liters of water;
- 75 ml of dry white wine;
- 2 tbsp. l butter;
- 1 tbsp. l olive oil (unrefined);
- 50 g wheat flour;
- 1 tsp. Sahara;
- salt, black pepper - to taste;
- a pinch of red pepper;
- French baguette;
- 100 g of hard cheese that melts easily, ideally Swiss Gruyere cheese.
The way of cooking French onion soup
For the preparation of onion soup will need dishes with thick walls and bottom, for example, cast-iron saucepan or cauldron of sufficient capacity. In such a bowl onions will not fry, and languish, which is what we need.
It is also necessary to chop the onion correctly: not in small pieces or half rings, which are usual for soups, but in feathers. To do this, clean the onion (save the husks - it is useful to paint eggs beautifully for Easter!), Cut the onion in half, and then cut into thin slices - just not across, as when cutting into half rings, but along the bulb.
Meanwhile, we melt butter in dishes.
And when it melts, pour in olive and mix.
Pour onion into cauldron, add whole chives of garlic, salt and season with chili pepper. It is great if you have a couple of thyme twigs - this seasoning is most harmoniously combined with onion soup. And by all means take fresh, because with the dried taste will not be the same. Some cooks add to the French soup other types of greens - for example, fresh parsley, green onions, sprinkling greens on the already prepared soup before serving. You can experiment and tell in the comments which option you like best.
Stirring occasionally, cook the onions on low heat for 30 minutes. Cover is not necessary. You will notice that the onion gradually acquires a soft and pleasant golden hue. Make sure that he does not start frying.
Half an hour later, add sugar.
And immediately pour in the wine, mix and continue cooking until the aroma of the wine evaporates.
Then add flour and mix well until smooth. Cook the onions and flour for about five minutes, stirring all the time - otherwise soft onion feathers can stick together or burn slightly. At the same time, prepare the water - not boiling water, but very hot. Often onion soup is cooked in broth, but the most authentic (and simple) option is on the water.
Pour the hot water into the onions, mix well. Let the soup boil, then reduce the heat to the smallest one and continue cooking for another half hour or a little more, all without a lid, stirring occasionally and removing the foam.
The soup is almost ready. Add black pepper and catch thyme sprigs (if you added it). Now you need to prepare croutons with cheese for serving soup.
Cut the baguette into slices diagonally.
Fold the slices on the baking sheet and dry in the oven so that they are slightly browned. Very tasty, when the bread is crispy on top, and the middle is soft.
Dried pieces of baguette are rubbed on both sides with garlic, passed through a press or grated on a fine grater.
Pour onion soup into fireproof plates, put crouton on top of each serving and sprinkle with cheese, rubbed on a fine grater.
We send plates to a hot (200 ° C) oven for 3–4 minutes. Well, if you have a grill, it’s even more convenient. When the cheese melts, you can serve. Freshly cooked soup tastes best - warm, fragrant! Having eaten a small plate, you involuntarily reach for an addition.
There is another, less known way of serving onion soup with croutons and cheese - croutons sprinkled with grated cheese, you can put not on top, but on the bottom of plates, then pour the soup and serve. This method is suitable for those who do not like to gnaw hard toasts.
Try both options and share your impressions of the real French onion soup!
