I love to caramelize onions. Their flavor can’t be beat and they can enhance just about any dish. That’s why I love to make this soup. It is amazing how onions are transformed from their pungent raw form into a savory and sweet delight with just a little time over some heat.
I read many French onion soup recipes before I created my own. They all had one thing in common – enough sliced onions to make a stadium full of people tear-up.
Gruyere was the cheese most of these recipes called for to melt on top of the soup. But when I went to buy it, I didn’t have the heart to spend $6.30 on a 4 ounces of it – especially when I had shredded mozzarella and fresh parmesan at home in the fridge. The mozzarella melted well and worked just fine as a gooey topping to the soup.
The bread pictured in the recipe was over-toasted. I wrote the correct toasting time into the recipe, but I let mine go for more than 20 minutes, making it a little harder than I would’ve liked. Luckily I caught it before it actually burned. Because it wasn’t central to the dish, and more of a topping, I still used it but the crust was a little tough. I had to let it soak in the soup for a while to bite through it.
THE COLUMN
I was thrilled to sneak a reference to french kissing into the introduction. I giggle every time I read the first line. I guess I’m still a 12-year-old at heart.
I am especially pleased with the layout and design this week. There is a lot going on – making the soup, toasting the bread and melting the cheese over the soup – plus all of the prepped ingredients. Eighteen photographs in all. That might be the most photos I’ve ever used to visualize a recipe. That surprised me because when I was shopping I thought to myself that the recipe was relatively simple. And it is if you’re just looking at the list of ingredients. Making it however, requires some extra steps. I thought I was able to convey those steps well in a visual sense.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I made a casserole recently and I seasoned it with a packet of French onion soup. It was flavorful and tasty AND it gave me indigestion! It seems easy for cooks to just grab pre-made packets to make a soup like this. But this soup is so much better and so much more healthy when you take the time to make it using fresh ingredients!
Cook often, eat well …
