Soupe à L'Oignon Gratinée

Bonne fête! Welcome to another No Free Lunch Bastille Day special. Having been busy with the move and the class I'm teaching, the blog has, unfortunately, been neglected of late. You'll now notice the third kitchen to be regularly featured premiering in this post. In the time since my last post, I've fallen back on the old favorites, including another huge batch of potstickers. There's nothing like a yearly tradition to drag me out of my torpor. My choice for this year's recipe is about as classic as they come: onion soup. 

I've been a big fan of onion soup for about as long as I can remember, yet for whatever reason, I never made it until today. In general, as much as I enjoy soups, I rarely make them and even less often feature them on the blog. This was also a great opportunity to give our new soup bowls a try. I consulted both Julia Child and Kenji Lopez-Alt's recipes, and took some inspiration from both. Onion soup very simple in terms of ingredients, but it all comes together beautifully. The wine I used was the 2013 Chardonnay from Bloomington's own Oliver Winery. The bread was, of course, the one featured on this blog.

Ingredients

Basic Soup

• 2 lb. yellow or sweet onions, or a mix of the two (4-5 onions)
• 3 Tbs butter
• 1 Tbs vegetable oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 2 Tbs flour
• 6 c chicken stock
• 1/2 c dry white wine
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 3 Tbs cognac (optional)

For Gratinée

• French bread (enough to cover the bowls)
• Olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• Grated Swiss cheese, such as gruyère or emmental

Instructions

Slice the onions into thin strips. Melt butter with vegetable oil in a large dutch oven or heavy pan over low heat. I ended up splitting my onions across two pans, as in the photo. Add onions, cover, and cook 15 minutes. Turn the heat up to medium-low and add salt and sugar. Cook until golden brown, stirring frequently. For me, this took about an hour.

Onions after cooking

At this point, I combined all the onions into one pan. Add flour, stir together, and cook a few minutes. Add wine, stock, and bay leaves. Bring to boil. Reduce to simmer and cook, partially covered, about 40 minutes. When ready to serve, stir in the cognac, if using.

Soup simmered and ready to go

To prepare the toast, slice French bread and brush with olive oil. Toast until hard and crunchy. Cut garlic in half and rub on the toast.

Headed to the broiler

Transfer the soup to oven-safe bowls. Top with the toast and cover with cheese. Broil the bowls for a few minutes, until the cheese is bubbly.