French Onion Soup! Oui Oui!
French Onion Soup
One legend about the origins of French onion soup is that late one night King Louis XV of France returned to his hunting lodge, to find only onions, butter and champagne in the kitchen. Ingeniously, he mixed them together and created the first French Onion Soup. Another tale, attributes the origins of French onion soup to the farmers in Les Halles, the old market place of Paris, where farmers would sip on huge mugs of boiling onion soup to keep warm while setting up for the mornings activities in the fierce cold. I think I prefer the story with the champagne! It sounds like it has more imaginative bubbles.
French Onion soup is a rich thick soup bursting with sweet onion flavour! It tastes great when served with thick toast covered in butter or melted cheese… mmmmm… yum! And what is even better, is that onions, with their many, many layers are good for you!
Onions contain antioxidants, with the most notable one being quercetin, which helps eliminate free radicals in the body, protects and regenerates Vitamin E, inhibits oxidation of ‘bad cholesterol’ (low-density lipoprotein) and also contains small amounts of potassium, folate, and vitamin C. Some researchers have also found that people who eat an onion a day can raise their “good” (HDL) cholesterol, says Dr. Barry Sears in his book The Top 100 Zone Foods. Interestingly quercetin can be also found in tea and apples, but its absorption is more than tripled in onions compared to apples! So throw away that apple and eat an onion a day to keep the Doctor away!
French Onion Soup
Ingredients: 8 large brown onions sliced, 30g butter, 1 tbsp olive oil, 2 heaped tbsp fresh thyme leaves, 2 tbsp plain flour, 2 tbsp cornflour, 2 tbsp brandy, 2 level tbsp Dijon mustard, 4 cups beef stock, 2 cups water
Steps: Place the sliced onions, butter, oil and thyme in a large saucepan over med-high heat. Cover and cook for approximately 35 minutes, stirring occasionally until soft and a golden brown.
Add the flour and cook and stir for 3 minutes. Then add the brandy and stir through, Add the mustard, beef stock and water, stir, then allow it to simmer for 15 minutes. Serve hot with fat buttery toast!
Serves 6-8
Tip! To bring out the best onion flavour make sure you brown the onions very well until they are a deep golden colour and a nice soft texture.
When choosing onions: look for onions that are heavy for their size, firm all over, free of soft spots and covered with dry, papery skin. If it has all these qualities then you know it’s a keeper.
yes i think eight sticks of gum should do the trick. One for every onion! haha
and if Loulou did anything to help, it was only to pop open the champagne