Frantic Home Cook – Home cooking, Recipes, Healthy, Frugal

I don’t know why the French think Americans are clueless when it comes to cooking.  I mean, America has made its own incredible contributions to the world of fine food such as Spam, beef jerky, and our best export, McDonald’s McRib sandwich.

I will admit that the French do know how do soup.   This recipe for Best Onion Soup Ever gets its “Best” and “Ever” from fond.  Fond, as many of you know, is French for “that really tasty stuff that’s stuck to the bottom of your pan, you uncivilized American!” This is a Sunday kind of recipe in that it takes a few hours but you’re not really hands on for most of it.

* That lid is now serving time as a the cymbal in my daughter’s stuffed animal band.

You’ve all heard that you should only cook with wine or spirits that you would drink.   That’s why I advocate tasting the wine before you pour it into your recipe.  Sometimes I test 4 or 5 glassfuls just to be sure.

Now, you may be asking, why are we reducing this over and over and over?  Good question.  (Let’s just pretend you asked, ok?)  Every time you add more liquid and evaporate down (that’s called reduction which is something else the French perfected, you clumsy, cooking-challenged American!), you’re making more sticky brown fond stuff that equals flavor to the nth power. So be sure and scrape down the sides and bottom each time!

Let it simmer for about 20-30 minutes.

If you want extra crispy crouton-like bread, toast your slices in the oven first.

Best Onion Soup Ever

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 3 pieces
• 6 large yellow onions sliced
• Kosher salt
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup dry sherry
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups beef broth
• 2 tablespoons dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• Fresh black pepper
• 1 small baguette cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 8 ounces shredded Gruyère or Swiss cheese

Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees.

Spray the inside of a Dutch oven with a nonstick cooking spray. Place the butter in the pot and add the onions and a pinch of salt. (It will help draw liquid out of the onions.) Bake in the oven, covered, for about 1 hour. Remove the pot from the oven and stir the onions, scraping the bottom and sides of the pot. Return the pot to the oven with the lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until the onions are very soft and golden brown, 1 1/2 hours longer, stirring the onions and scraping bottom and sides of pot after 1 hour.

Remove pot and place over medium-high heat. (Careful!  The handles are still hot!)  Cook the onions, stirring frequently and scraping bottom and sides of pot, until the liquid evaporates and the onions brown, 15 to 20 minutes, reducing the heat to medium if the onions are browning too quickly. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the pot bottom is coated with a dark crust, roughly 6 to 8 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary.

Stir in the sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until the sherry evaporates, about 5 minutes.   Stir in 1/4 cup water, scraping the pot bottom to loosen that yummy fond and cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes. Repeat process of deglazing 2 or 3 more times, until onions are very dark brown.

Stir in the broths, 2 cups of water, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust on bottom and sides of pot.
6. Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaf, then season with salt and pepper.

While the soup simmers, toast the sliced baguette if you like.  Set individual broiler-safe bowls on a baking sheet and fill each with soup. Top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle evenly with  a good melty cheese like Gruyère or Swiss.  Broil carefully until the cheese is melted and bubbly around edges, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving or you will burn yourself,  you senseless American!

What else is cookin’

• Piña Colada Doughnuts
• Simple Vinaigrette – A Visual Recipe
• Roasted Vegetable Sandwich