Ingredients:
1½ – 2 lbs onions, peeled and sliced very thinly
2 tablespoons oil and the same of butter
pinch of sugar
3½ pints stock
2 level tablespoons flour
6 heaped tablespoons grated cheese
Glass of red wine (optional)
Slug of brandy as used by French meat porters (also optional)
Salt and black pepper
Rounds of French bread, toasted or roasted
Method:
All you have to do, really, to make this a triumph is to be patient. Heat the oil and butter in a large pan over a low heat and add the sliced onions. Cook them gently until they are soft and then add some salt and the sugar and keep on cooking until the onions are a delicious golden brown. This is the bit which requires patience – but you can do it more swiftly, if you haven’t the time. The point is that the longer you slowly stew the onions, the better the soup will taste.
Whenever you’re ready, add the flour and the red wine to the onions, stir it all in and then gradually pour on the stock, continuing to stir until it all comes to the boil. My French friend’s recipe says at this point to add some “good herbs” – whatever is to hand would be fine: thyme, chopped rosemary, oregano, parsley or any combination thereof.
Cover and simmer on a low heat for about an hour. The soup can then be left until you’re ready to serve it at which point you should reheat it to simmering point and add the brandy if you want to do so – it’s really not at all necessary but would give no end of a lift if you’d just come off duty a) from a heavy night shift as a meat porter or b) after a serious day’s digging.
Serve the soup by pouring into a large ovenproof dish or individual dishes as long as they are ovenproof, putting slices of the toasted/roasted bread on the surface and then adding grated cheese to the top of each slice. It doesn’t really matter what cheese you use – the French call for Gruyere, but Cheddar would be fine and any combination would be good too. Now either put your soup bowl or dishes into a hot oven or under the grill until it’s bubbling and browned. DON’T burn your mouth. Enjoy.
And if you want to know how to turn this simple French peasant dish into something wonderfully exotic – by putting a soufflé on top – this is what you do:
Instead of adding the cheese on top of the toasted bread, put the following mixture on to it and put in a hot preheated oven, 220C, for 8 – 10 minutes or until wonderful to behold. Then impress your family.
To make the soufflé mixture. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan and stir in two heaped tablespoons of flour. Add 3/4 pint milk, preferably warmed if you can be bothered, and stir until smooth. Now add the cheese that you would have put in anyway, in the simple version of the soup. Take the pan off the heat and allow to cool slightly before then adding two stiffly beaten egg whites. Spoon it on to the soup, put it in the heated oven and stand back and await compliments – primarily, you hope, on your onions.