EATS: French Onion Soup Recipe
One of the best foods to eat in the autumn through winter is a rich and savory bowl of French Onion soup. I’m excited to share my recipe with you.
If you’ve read my first article on this blog, Welcome, you may recall my mother's catering partner, Toshiko. To recap, out of high school I didn't have a clear idea of what I would study in college. Even though I didn't know much about food, it was Toshiko who suggested that I should go to culinary school and helped pave the path for my career as a chef.
In addition to catering, Toshiko held cooking classes in her kitchen. Her specialization was in Japanese cuisine and yet she always revered French techniques for cooking and French cuisine. At the time she had stacks of Gourmet magazine, and would talk a lot about Tom Colichio who then was at Mondrian, the talk of the town.
When Toshiko gave me a handful of cooking school brochures to consider (they included the Culinary Institute of America, French Culinary Institute (which is now the International Culinary Center), and the California Culinary Academy) she made the hard sell for the French Culinary Institute. She convinced me that having French cooking techniques as the basis of my culinary training would serve me well in my career. And so began my journey as a chef.
When I moved from California to Seattle I was Executive Chef at two French restaurants. It was an exciting time during which I really honed and perfected my skills in French cuisine. My first Executive Chef position was at Artisanal in Bellevue, followed by RN74. A personal favorite and a favorite of guests is of course a classic French onion soup.
What's not to love about this dish? When done correctly, french onion soup is packed with layers of flavor and textures. It makes the perfect cold weather dish.
Below is my recipe and I hope that you will try it and share with me your thoughts and tag me in any photos on social media. Excited to share this with you!
Key Tip: use a quality beef stock. Hopefully you can find one or make your own. Canned beef broth doesn't cut it because it doesn't have any natural gelatin. My recipe for beef broth follows the french
onion soup recipe.
French Onion Soup Recipe
5 tablespoons canola oil, 2 for the soup and the other 3 for brushing on the bread
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 large yellow onions, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 red onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 shallot, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced thinly sliced
1 leeks, white part only, washed and sliced
½ cup of dry white wine
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 quart Beef Stock
Salt
1 sachet made wh 1 bay leaf, 2 thyme sprigs, and a 1/2 teaspoon of whole black peppercorns tied in cheeseclot
8- 1/2-inch-thick slices of baguette, sliced so 2 piees fit on top of bowl used for serving.
2 cups shredded Gruyère cheese (about 6 ounces)
French Onion Soup Instructions
Heat 2 Tablespoons oil in a large heavy bottomed pot. Add the onions, shallots and leeks and a pinch of salt, cover and cook over moderate heat, stirring once or twice, until the onions soften, about 10 minutes. Uncover and cook over moderate heat, add butter and stir frequently, until the onions are browned but not burnt, about 40 minutes.
Add white wine, sherry and sherry vinegar. Cook wines and vinegar until almost completely reduced, add the stock and bouquet garni and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over low heat until the soup has a deep flavor, about 30 minutes. Discard the sachet and season the soup with salt.
Preheat the oven to the broil setting. Brush the olive oil on both sides of the bread and place on a baking sheet. Toast the bread on each side until golden brown.
Bring the soup to a simmer, ladle it into 4 deep ovenproof bowls and sprinkle with half of the cheese. Place a crouton in each bowl and sprinkle on the remaining cheese. Broil the bowls of soup on a baking sheet in the top rack of the oven for 10 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling and has some brown spots on it
Beef Bone Broth Recipe
4 pounds of beef bones (ribs, shin, neck, tail)
16 cups cold water
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
1 onion peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 carrot peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
2 stalks of celery cut into 1 inch pieces
2 garlic cloves crushed
2 sprigs of thyme
1 bay leaf
pinch of salt
Beef Bone Broth Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large roasting pan cook beef bones in the oven until very deeply browned. Reduce the heat if they threaten to burn. Remove the beef bones to a plate or tray and pour off the oil in the pan. Turn off the oven
Place the roasting pan on top of the stove and turn flame to medium being careful not to burn the "fond"(caramelized bits) on the bottom of the roasting pan. Add the vegetables, garlic and the tomato paste and cook the vegetables until they lightly caramelize. The moisture from the
vegetables should help pull the "fond" from the bottom of the pan. You will need to adjust the heat depending on how thin the pan is and how strong the flame is. Add 1 cup of water(from the 16 cups) and scrape the bottom to get everything loose and turn off heat.Transfer the vegetables, roasted bones, pinch of salt, thyme, bay leaf and remaining 15 cups of water into a a large pot. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer, skim off any impurities that rise to the surface with a ladle or large spoon. Cook uncovered, at the barest possible simmer, with just a few bubbles breaking the surface, stirring occasionally, for 2 1/2 hours.
Remove from the heat and let the stock rest for 15 minutes. At this point your stock should reduced to about half (about 8 cups). Strain stock through a large fine-mesh strainer or a colander double-lined with damp cheesecloth into a large bowl.
Fill a larger bowl or the sink with ice and water and nest the bowl of stock in it. Stir regularly until the stock has cooled.
Transfer the cooled stock to airtight containers, and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
