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04 November 2012

French Onion Soup

I'm doing it, people (mom, dani, chook, stragglers)! I'm creating a blog about the delicious food I bake, the disgusting food that I ruin, and food that I find interesting elsewhere. Come on this journey of carbs, protein, and fat with me!

Did you know...?
1g protein = 4 Calories
1g carbohydrates = 4 Calories
1g fat = 9 Calories
1,000 calories = 1 Calorie (aka Kilocalorie aka 1,000 "small" calories)

(You should all know that if you took Mrs. Downey's chemistry class.)

Oh my gosh, I'm nervous. It's time to get to the actual food part. Well, today I decided to attempt a classic French onion soup because Crocky was getting a little rusty, and I figured I should know how to make this soup before winter really sets in. I'm a huge fan of the onion, as you all well know.

French Onion Soup (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

Ingredients:

5 medium-large yellow onions
4T unsalted butter
1T olive oil
3T A.P. flour
4c Beef Broth
2c Chicken Broth
Salt and pepper to taste (easy on the salt, people!)

Instructions:

(1) Put butter and oil on low heat. Use your mandoline to chop up the 5 onions into thin(ish) slices. At this point your eyes will be extremely teary from the chopping. Take a moment to compose yourself. Then stir those bad boys into the fat mixture and cover the pot for 15 minutes. No need to stir-- they barely do anything. I actually turned the heat up to medium-low and gave them another 5-7 minutes.


Here are all 5 onions, chopped and ready to plunge into the butter! I do love my new Mandoline from WalMart.

(2) Open up your giant pot of buttery onions. Turn the heat up to a medium level (adjust so the buttery onion water is simmering). Cook for another 45 minutes, stirring frequently. The first 20 minutes aren't crucial for stirring, but the last 25 are very important. Don't walk away for too long, or the onions will burn. Just keep stirring every few minutes! The beautiful brown will appear slowly.


Here are the onoins mid-way through the browning process. Mmm... the smell.

(3) Sprinkle the flour over the onions and stir until incorporated. If you choose to add wine, now is the time to add up to 1/2c of a dry white. I did not do this, because all I had on hand was Moscato that I stocked up on for hurricane Sandy's mini-blizzard in Boone. Add a pinch of salt and pepper if the mood strikes you. Remember to be conservative with that salt, especially if you plan to melt a pile of cheese on top.




The flour has been added! It's kind of a brownish onion mush.


(4) Now it's time to add the broth. I added the chicken broth 1/3 cup at a time, stirring after each addition and letting the soup heat back up before adding any more. My beef broth was already heated in Crocky, so I scooped a couple of cups of it into the pot more quickly than with the room temperature chicken broth. Basically, just don't add all of the broth at the same time. Smitten Kitchen said to simmer the soup for 30-40 more minutes before serving and skim if needed, but I just poured mine into the preheated Crocky on high heat. I can hear the flavors merging as I type.



Here's Frenchy in the Crocky... steaming away on high. 

I snuck an early bowl out of Crocky. MAN IS IT GOOD!

Mummmm. I can't wait for seconds!

Thanks for reading the blog, dudes! Somebody make this and tell me what you think!
Chook -- I'll try to do a vegetarian blog soon.

UPDATE: Dani has shown considerable disgust that I didn't melt cheese on top and eat the soup with a baguette. WELL, I avoided that step due to the exponential spike in calories it would cause. If you want to have it in the traditional, heart-stopping manner, follow the link to Smitten Kitchen's original recipe.

2 comments:

  1. Dear Kate,

    What is a mandolin and how can I make the soup without one? Some of us can't afford fancy cooking utensils from Wal-mart.

    Thanks

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  2. Great question, Dani! A mandoline (not to be confused with mandolin, the stringed instrument) is a slicing tool used for julienning. It allows you to quickly and easily cut things into slices of equal width. It's very useful when you have to chop a lot of veggies, but you can certainly make this soup without one. Simply cut your onions as evenly as possible in the desired width. I prefer mine a little chunky, because I'm obsessed with onions (obviously).

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