It's hard to be a great French cook while limiting fat and calories in your meals. Today I'm making French onion soup for the first time ever and will not cut calories. I don't think it's the most nutritious soup to eat -- lower in protein than many, only one vegetable -- nor is it a low calorie soup ... but at times one must eat what one wants, and today that's French onion soup!
The homemade soup is sitting on my stovetop. It smells and tastes delicious. I sampled it! For tonight's dinner, I'll add the bread and cheeses, broiling the topping in the oven until melted and slightly brown. The quantity is 4 large servings:
French Onion Soup
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 large onions, cut in strips (not diced small)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 large beef bouillon cube (or chicken bouillon cube; or 3/4 teaspoon salt)
3 cups beef stock (or chicken stock - I use whatever flavor is in the pantry)
1/2 cup red wine (or white - I use what's open, most often red. The color doesn't really matter. If tasty to drink, the wine makes excellent soup:)
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon Herbs of Provence
Sprinkle of dried celery
Tiny pinch of sugar
white and black pepper to taste
Extra 1/4 cup of onion, diced
Swiss cheese (buy a brick of cheese)
Parmesan cheese
Directions:
1) Toss the olive oil and butter into a stockpot and heat it, followed by the onions and simmer on middle-low heat for 20 minutes to caramelize. Cover with a lid. Watch and stir so the onion doesn't burn. After 20 minutes ...
2) Whisk in the flour. Add the bouillon cube (or salt, not both). You can add about 1/2 cup of water if needed to dissolve the bouillon.
3) Next add the beef stock and wine; follow with your dried seasonings. Add a pinch of sugar too. Simmer on low-medium heat for another 30 minutes. (Without a boil, the soup won't cook properly, yet too high a flame cooks the water out. That's the dilemma. Make sure you have a low boil, not a robust boil.)
4) Near the end of the cooking time (like the last 10 minutes) dice another 1/4 cup of onion (get out another small onion) and 1/4 cup of the Swiss cheese and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and toss into the pot. This adds omph -- more flavor and texture.
5) Pour into soup bowls and top with bread and cheeses. Read step 6.
6) {a} - For myself, I lay a couple of slices of toasted multi-grain bread on the soup and then top with lots of Swiss and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheeses, broiling the bread-cheese topping in the oven until the cheeses are hot, melted and slightly brown.
{b} - If I were to make this soup again for guests, I'd buy a loaf of artisan bread, cut it into thick slices, butter and brown the slices on a baking sheet in the oven, then top the bowls of soup with the oven browned bread peaked with plenty of cheese. Without guests, I skip this oven-browned-bread step to get out of the kitchen. Butter-less supermarket, toasted bread topped with cheese is fine for me! Still a success.
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| Update: Dinner is served at 6:50 pm. I'm afraid of ruining a mug or bowl by broiling, so I used mini cake pans, different, I know! |
If I say so, myself, the soup looks, smells and tastes amazing! Restaurant worthy. Good enough for guests. Mine isn't as salty as I've eaten it out, so perhaps, it's even better.
Pandemic cook is back, sister!
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Of course the main reason to explain what is happening is, my feet are aging right along with the rest of me. Regardless of how sensible our footwear, our parts start to wear out! As we grow older (beginning around the age of 45 or so), we lose the fat padding on the bottoms of our feet that protects them from daily pounding, which is why we can't walk barefoot on hard floors anymore without foot pain. 
