Soupe L’oignon Au Gratin
Ingredients.
* 1kg brown onions, 1 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp butter.0\
* 4 tbsp sifted flour, 2l chicken stock, 300ml white wine, 1 tsp MSG, 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp black pepper.
* 1 tbsp brandy, 20 thick slices of French bread, 2 cups grated Gruyere.
Peel and finely slice the onions. Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large pan. Fry the onions at a high heat for a few minutes, vigorously stirring them and breaking them up as they fry. Turn down the heat and leave the onions to caramelise slowly, stirring them around every few minutes. After forty-five minutes or so, the onions should look brown and syrupy.
Stir the flour into the onion, stirring it in very well. It’s important that all the lumps of flour are broken up. Cook the flour and onions together for five minutes or so, stirring it all the time. Add the stock, wine, MSG, salt and pepper and simmer the soup for an hour or so, stirring it a bit as it cooks. Adjust the seasonings. Toast the little bread slices and put them aside.
Take four big deep bowls and add a little brandy to each one. Ladle the soup into the bowls. Lay the toast slices on top of the soup and top the toast with the cheese, making sure that each bowl has a thick layer of cheese on top. Put the bowls under the griller until the cheese is bubbled and slightly browned. It’s fine if some of the cheese dribbles over the sides. In fact, it’s almost inevitable.
Serves four as a main course, twelve as an entrée. (That’s ‘appetizer’ to all you American readers).
OK, now I’m getting a few American followers, I need to clarify something. I’m an Australian, from Sydney. We call the main dish of a meal, the “main course”. Some pretentious types who like to use restaurant jargon say “main”. (Wankers). When I say “entrée”, I mean the small, first course which is served before the main course. I know that Americans (from both the States and Canada) call their main course, their “entrée”. I find it odd, but I guess they find me odd too.
But anyway. This is a classic French soup. It’s pretty easy too, although it takes a bit of time. This version is not an entrée; it’s really a main course for lunch or a light dinner. If you want to serve it as an entrée, serve about a third as much in a little bowl, with a single slice of baguette and cheese on top. (The picture shows a little, entrée-sized portion). By the by, the traditional recipe uses beef stock, but I prefer the chicken stock. It’s not traditional but I think it’s better.
