I have cooking class to teach on Tuesday so I figured I better try out my new technique for carmelizing onions for the French Onion Soup. It turned out very, very good. What's new (for me anyhow) is carmelizing the onions in a roasting pan in the oven vs slow cooking on the stovetop (and stirring and watching and stirring and probably burning and sticking...). I took the advice found on Chowhound forums from a poster named Joann who said she slices up 6lbs of onions and adds a stick of butter to them in a roasting pan and cooks them for 2 hours in a 350degree (F) oven. I did this, stirring and turning them every little while.
What a nice break from trying to patiently carmelize onions on the stovetop. This is a great tip! The kitchen smelled absolutely wonderful too. I might just do up a bunch more and freeze them for adding to pasta, pizzas and more soup. They're so convenient and easy. Here's how my onions looked chopped up and throughout the course of carmelizing. I probably had about 6 large yellow onions chopped.
After two hours they had shrunk down quite a bit, but they were perfect for making soup for the four of us. I used a turkey roasting pan and could easily have filled it with more onions which I will try next time. I also used my freshly baked bread so I had to toast it to equal the crusty day old bread you're supposed to use in French onion soup.
This is the soup when I added the onions. I let it simmer for another half hour to thicken up a bit.
and here's the final picture before I devoured it.
OH, want the recipe? Here you go...
French Onion Soup (Soupe à l'IOignon Gratinée)
5lbs yellow onions sliced
1/2 stick butter
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 t. dried thyme
1/4 t. black pepper
1 t. salt
3 T. flour
1/2 clove of garlic, grated fine
4 cups beef broth
1 cup white wine
Thinly slice 5lbs of yellow onions. Heat oven to 350degrees F. Add butter and olive oil to roasting pan and let melt in oven, then add in the onions, toss to coat and place back in oven for two hours (or possibly more if needed). Check on the onions and stir every 20 minutes to make sure they get evenly browned.
When the two hour mark is almost up on the onions, start heating your stock, wine and seasonings (except for the garlic). Bring to a boil, then turn down and simmer. When onions are done, sprinkle the flour on top and stir them in the still hot roasting pan, coating the onions and combining them with the flour. Add these onions to the stock and stir well. Bring the heat up to medium high and cook, stirring well for a few minutes, then turn back down to a low-medium heat, add the grated garlic and cook down for 20 minutes. Taste for salt, add more if needed. Toast some bread. Place some soup into an ovenproof bowl. Add a slice of toasted bread, then cover the top with Gruyere or Swiss cheese. Brown in a hot oven till bubbling and golden brown. May not take long so keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn! Enjoy.
