Hello All! To my 5's of 10's of readers, I apologize for taking so long to post. Gonna try to be more regular about posting here! Today's recipe is actually adapted from a couple of different Rachael Ray recipes "Wild Mushroom French Onion Soup" and "French Onion Dip Soup with Dijon and Gruyere Croutons". So here is my version!
French Onion soup is one of those dishes that is a classic comfort food and a pretty basic recipe. One thing that Rachael does is try to reinvent it to some extent. In both the recipes this version is adapted from, there is something added in to spruce it up a little. I took what I liked about both the recipes and combined it into one. So to start the soup off, you need to caramelize a TON of onions. I used vidalia onions and you need 4 pretty good sized ones. Slice the onions and caramelize them. You are going to have a mountain of onion on your cutting board, as you see in the picture. (This picture was actually taken from another recipe I did that had potatoes, but it was the same amount of onions. There are no potatoes in this recipe so pay no attention to them). Don't panic, they will cook way down. Rachael Tip: Don't rush the onions! To get the onions really caramelized, you have to be patient. Set the burner on medium heat, no higher. It takes anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to get them to a nice medium caramel color. If you turn the heat higher, the onions will char at the edges before they caramelize. You can caramelize them in 1 of 2 ways. Rachael uses butter, 1 TBS per onion, or you can use EVOO. Since I'm trying to lose a little weight and watching what I eat a little closer, I used 1 TBS of EVOO per onion rather than the butter, but by all means, if you aren't watching what you eat quite so closely, or you happen to be one of those lucky people who can eat whatever you want and never gain weight, go for the butter. It will give it a little richer flavor. Once the oil ripples and wafts smoke, or the butter begins to foam, drop the onions into the pot. Add in salt, pepper, a couple fresh bay leaves, 4 cloves of garlic thinly sliced and a good pinch of ground thyme. If you don't have fresh bay you can use dried, but i've found that if you keep fresh bay leaves in the refrigerator in a plastic food storage bag, they will keep for weeks and weeks and the flavor comes through stronger from the fresh. Again, allow the onions time to sweat out. I let mine go for about an hour to get that nice medium to deep caramel color. I also looked at my Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking and in the book Julia recommends adding a 1/4 tsp of sugar to the onions to help them to caramelize. I didn't do that because I didn't check the book until after I had already finished with the onions but I'll probably give it a shot next time! I mean if Julia says to do it, it has to be right!
When the onions are about halfway through their cooking time, you can start on the mushrooms. For this you'll need a 1oz. package of dried porcini or dried wild mushroom blend. Most grocery stores have these now. My store had them in 0.5oz packages so I got two. I've also seen some that are 0.75oz. packages. If thats' what they have just use that, don't buy a second package for 0.25oz. Remove the mushrooms from the package and add them into a small to medium sauce pot. Cover with enough beef stock or water to just cover the mushrooms. You will need a total of 5 cups of stock for the soup. You can use water for the mushrooms and then 1 quart of beef stock in a box if you want to save a few bucks and only buy one box. I had a box of chicken stock open in the fridge so I used that for the mushrooms and only used 1 box of stock in the soup. Bring them to a boil and reduce to simmer and allow them to steep in the water or stock while the onions finish cooking. Once the onions are caramelized, remove the mushrooms with a slotted spoon and coarsely chop them and reserve the mushroom stock that has been made. Now, if mushrooms aren't your thing, you can absolutely omit them.
Once the onions are caramelized, deglaze the pot with 1/3 - 1/2 a cup of dry sherry. If you don't have dry sherry you can use dry white wine. If you don't have either and don't want to buy them, omit it and you can deglaze with the mushroom stock, but the dry sherry adds this nutty aspect to the soup that is killer. When you add the sherry scrape the bottom of your soup pot with a wooden spoon to scrape up the little bits that are trapped on the bottom from the onions caramelizing. Those bits = awesome flavor! Once the sherry cooks out for a minute or two, add in a good rounded tablespoon of Dijon mustard! It's that little thing in the soup that makes people say "hmmm, what is that?!". once you stir in the Dijon, add in the mushrooms and mushroom stock, if you didn't use it deglaze in place of the sherry or white wine. Rachael Tip: When you add the mushroom stock, add all but the last couple spoonfuls of the stock. When you reconstitute dried mushrooms, some grit from the mushrooms can settle at the bottom of the pot and if you add all of the liquid, you'll add that grit as well, and that can be unpleasant. Once you have added the mushrooms and stock, add in your quart of beef stock and bring the soup to a boil, then reduce to simmer and let it simmer while you make your gruyere croutons!.
Now, I didn't actually make the gruyere croutons for this. Instead, I melted the gruyere cheese in a skillet and then put that on top of the soup. I actually recommend making the crouton as it will float on top of the soup, not sink into it like mine did. To do so, simply take some slices of baguette and top with a mound of gruyere cheese. Place under the broiler and let the cheese melt. Serve the soup up with a crouton served on top.
This one was really good and had great flavor. Hope you guys will make it and enjoy. I'll put the ingredient list below since I adapted this from a couple of different recipes. Until next time, Happy Cooking!
Ingredients:
4 Tbs. Butter or EVOO
4 sweet onions, medium to large
4 cloves of garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste
Healthy pinch of Ground Thyme
2 Fresh Bay Leaves
1 oz. Dried Porcini or Wild Blend Mushrooms
5 Cups of Beef Stock, or 1 Quart plus 1 Cup of Water
1/3-1/2 Cup of Dry Sherry or White Wine
1 Tbs Dijon Mustard
When the onions are about halfway through their cooking time, you can start on the mushrooms. For this you'll need a 1oz. package of dried porcini or dried wild mushroom blend. Most grocery stores have these now. My store had them in 0.5oz packages so I got two. I've also seen some that are 0.75oz. packages. If thats' what they have just use that, don't buy a second package for 0.25oz. Remove the mushrooms from the package and add them into a small to medium sauce pot. Cover with enough beef stock or water to just cover the mushrooms. You will need a total of 5 cups of stock for the soup. You can use water for the mushrooms and then 1 quart of beef stock in a box if you want to save a few bucks and only buy one box. I had a box of chicken stock open in the fridge so I used that for the mushrooms and only used 1 box of stock in the soup. Bring them to a boil and reduce to simmer and allow them to steep in the water or stock while the onions finish cooking. Once the onions are caramelized, remove the mushrooms with a slotted spoon and coarsely chop them and reserve the mushroom stock that has been made. Now, if mushrooms aren't your thing, you can absolutely omit them. Once the onions are caramelized, deglaze the pot with 1/3 - 1/2 a cup of dry sherry. If you don't have dry sherry you can use dry white wine. If you don't have either and don't want to buy them, omit it and you can deglaze with the mushroom stock, but the dry sherry adds this nutty aspect to the soup that is killer. When you add the sherry scrape the bottom of your soup pot with a wooden spoon to scrape up the little bits that are trapped on the bottom from the onions caramelizing. Those bits = awesome flavor! Once the sherry cooks out for a minute or two, add in a good rounded tablespoon of Dijon mustard! It's that little thing in the soup that makes people say "hmmm, what is that?!". once you stir in the Dijon, add in the mushrooms and mushroom stock, if you didn't use it deglaze in place of the sherry or white wine. Rachael Tip: When you add the mushroom stock, add all but the last couple spoonfuls of the stock. When you reconstitute dried mushrooms, some grit from the mushrooms can settle at the bottom of the pot and if you add all of the liquid, you'll add that grit as well, and that can be unpleasant. Once you have added the mushrooms and stock, add in your quart of beef stock and bring the soup to a boil, then reduce to simmer and let it simmer while you make your gruyere croutons!.
Now, I didn't actually make the gruyere croutons for this. Instead, I melted the gruyere cheese in a skillet and then put that on top of the soup. I actually recommend making the crouton as it will float on top of the soup, not sink into it like mine did. To do so, simply take some slices of baguette and top with a mound of gruyere cheese. Place under the broiler and let the cheese melt. Serve the soup up with a crouton served on top.
This one was really good and had great flavor. Hope you guys will make it and enjoy. I'll put the ingredient list below since I adapted this from a couple of different recipes. Until next time, Happy Cooking!
Ingredients:
4 Tbs. Butter or EVOO
4 sweet onions, medium to large
4 cloves of garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste
Healthy pinch of Ground Thyme
2 Fresh Bay Leaves
1 oz. Dried Porcini or Wild Blend Mushrooms
5 Cups of Beef Stock, or 1 Quart plus 1 Cup of Water
1/3-1/2 Cup of Dry Sherry or White Wine
1 Tbs Dijon Mustard
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