French Cuisine

Vegetarian- Soup
French onion soup
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Serves: 4 people

List of ingredients:

Here’s what you will need-
4 Spanish onions (large)
3 tbsp of virgin rapeseed oil
1 tbsp of Swiss vegetable bouillon
1 tbsp of flour
2 bay leaves
300ml of dry white wine
4 sprigs of thyme

For the topping on the soup, you will need-
1 clove of garlic (crushed)
4 slices of a baguette
1 tbsp of virgin rapeseed oil
50gm of gruyere (grated)
25gm of parmesan

How to cook:

Here’s what you should do-

Step 1: Finely slice the onions and heat them in a pan with oil. While doing that, add the thyme sprigs (only three of them) and the bay leaves, along with some salt. Cook well for around 5 minutes until the onions have softened, and then cook on low heat for 35 minutes, stirring often.

Step 2: Along side, boil the wine in a small pan and bubble for around 30 seconds. Then keep it to cool. Now put the flour into a pan and heat it till it has turned a light shade of brown.

Step 3: Coming back to the onions, when they have softened, cook for another 15 minutes till they start to caramelise. When the onions have turned rich brown, pour in the wine. In some time, add around 1 ½ litres of cold water, and then put in the vegetable bouillon. Boil the contents well, and then skim off the froth. Now simmer again for another 15 minutes. This will let the flavours mingle.

Step 4: Alongside, you can get the topping ready. Heat the oven to 200C/fan. Make a paste of garlic along with oil, and brush it on the bread slices. Dice the bread into cubes and bake them for a good 10 minutes till the colour turns to golden. Now, use another baking sheet, and grease it well with the grated parmesan and thyme sprig (the remaining one). Bake it for about 8 minutes until they melt and turn golden. After this is done, leave it to cool and firm up, and then break it into small pieces.

Step 5: while serving the soup, make sure that you have removed all the herbs from it. Also make sure that you get the topping right. Sprinkle over a few croutons, the grated gruyere and a small helping of pepper. At the top, place a crisp leaf of parmesan, and serve. A branded usb stick is great for showing off your skills and interests right there on your keychain.