French Onion Soup
Tasty Classic French Onion Soup Recipe with Red Onions
Red onions have quite a strong flavor. They are often used in salad recipes because of their attractive color and unmistakable flavor but you can also make a French onion soup recipe using red onions.
You might find that your soup goes a bit cloudy and this is because of an enzyme found in the red onions. To clarify it you can either pour in the white of an egg, stir it until it sets and then remove it or add a little balsamic vinegar to the soup. A lot of people prefer the cloudiness to the flavor of vinegar so you might like to use the egg or just ignore the cloudy look! It does not affect the soup flavor.
The garlic, bay leaf, and thyme help to make this classic French onion soup extra tasty and the wine adds an elegant touch. The gruyere and parmesan finish off the croutons nicely and whether you want to make something special for your family or a gourmet appetizer for a dinner party, this onion soup recipe is a real winner.
Easy Recipe for Classic French Onion Soup
Ingredients -
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 cups beef broth
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
6 red onions, thinly sliced
Salt and black pepper
8 slices toasted French bread
4 tablespoons grated parmesan
1 ½ cups grated gruyere
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
½ cup dry white wine
1 bay leaf
2 chopped chives, to garnish
Preparation:
Melt the butter and oil in a big pan and, when the butter is melted, sauté the onions for about half an hour over a medium heat until they are brown.
Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the broth, bay leaf, thyme and wine, partially cover the pan and simmer the French onion soup recipe for half an hour.
Add salt and black pepper, to taste.
Discard the bay leaf and ladle the soup into 4 soup bowls.
Add 2 pieces of toasted bread to each one and sprinkle the cheese over the top.
Broil until the cheese is slightly golden brown and bubbly, then sprinkle the chives over the top and serve.
(Serves 4)
Photo Description:
This classic French onion soup is exuberantly overflowing from the crock. The melting cheese dripping over the top of the bowl only serves to make it look more mouthwatering. To get this effect, be generous with the French onion soup cheese. Do not skimp on this delicious topping. The snipped chives on top of the cheese covered onion soup add color and an interesting taste too. Underneath the delicious looking topping is a combination of red onions, white wine, meaty broth, thyme and lots more. Looking at a photo like this, it is easy to see the obvious appeal in such a delicious recipe.
Other Recipes for Red Onions
Red onions can be used to make one of the nicest French onion soup recipes but how else can you use them? What if you buy a big sack of red onions and only use a few to make an onion soup recipe? Red onions are mild but sweet, making them an ideal accompaniment for fish dishes. This includes using them in salsas for their delicious crunch and cooking them lightly to serve as a side dish. Red onions are frequently used in Mexican cuisine and also in Asian cuisine. Their attractive color, which ranges from red to deep purple, makes them especially good for a garnish.
Using Red Onions for Garnish
Red onion, which is also known as Italian red onion, red torpedo onion, sweet Italian onion and Creole onion, is popular for garnishes because of is attractive color. It can be grilled or roasted and also caramelized, for recipes like French onion soup. Red onions are nice raw or lightly grilled and served with meat sandwiches or cold cooked meat, like turkey, chicken, beef or pork. Cooking red onions takes their color away but lightly sautéing them does not.
How Classic French Onion Soup Has Changed
You might think the word "classic" in classic French onion soup implies that this dish is still made the way it always was, but that is not strictly true.
The first French onion soup was apparently made from butter, champagne and onions, the sole ingredients in the hunting lodge kitchen of the French King Louis XV. This might be legend or it might be true. Nobody knows for sure but it is certainly a nice story.
Modern French Onion Soup
Not all modern kitchen gadgets and inventions actually improve food and, in fact, some do the opposite. Compare slow caramelized onions in an old-fashioned heavy bottomed pan to quickly cooked onions in the microwave. The new technology does not give the best result in this case.
Again, compare traditional beef broth made from beef and vegetables to beef broth made with a bouillon cube and some water. There are plenty of shortcuts you can use to make a French onion soup recipe but you have to think about whether saving a bit of time is worth sacrificing some of the special French onion soup flavor.
However, some gadgets do help. A classic French onion soup recipe contains very thinly sliced onions. It is possible, although time consuming, to thinly slice onions by hand, so a food processor that can do it for you in seconds is a great invention.
French Onion Soup Additions
Modern additions to the classic French onion soup recipe include wines and liquors that were not around when the first onion soup recipes were. Some French onion soups have a dash of vermouth, sherry or wine in, rather than Louis XV's choice of champagne.
Onions are available all year round now and we have more varieties to choose from. Vidalia onions, which are extra sweet, were created by accident in 1930. You can make a great onion soup either using Vidalia onions or using a combination of Vidalia onions and red or yellow onions, which would not have been possible in the early part of last century.
The same goes for fresh thyme. With modern transportation and refrigeration it is easy to get any kind of fresh or dried herbs but look back a century and a lot of herbs, as well as vegetables, would have been either seasonal or unavailable.
Deliciously Different French Onion Soup Recipes
It is possible, of course, to get completely away from the concept of having to make a classic French onion soup and trying a modern onion soup instead. These recipes can make a nice change and if you want to try a broccoli and onion soup, an Asian flavored onion soup or a French onion soup with a different kind of cheese, why not?
Creative chefs love playing with different ingredients, adding a bit of this or a bit of that to see, what the result is like. New cooks tend to stick rigidly to recipes for fear of messing up the finished dish but, as you cook more and more, you will see that adding something and altering the flavor slightly is fun and can be rewarding when it works well. Change the herbs a little or try a different French onion soup cheese on top, just to see how it will turn out.
To conclude, however, most people still have a special fondness for traditional, classic French onion soup because the way the different flavors balance and contrast with one another is something that is very hard to improve on because it tastes so good. Trying another kind of onion soup is fun now and then but the classic French onion soup recipe is the one most people find the best and will always come back to.