French but not Fried

And you thought I was nuts making a whole crock pot full of caramelized onions.

 

One of the best ways to use up those deliciously dark alliums is in soup. Particularly one that also uses up stale bread.

French onion soup seems like a treat a lot of the time. It's usually in the realm of restaurant fare only, which is strange given how easy it is to make. Particularly if you make the components in the crock pot and then freeze them until you want soup.

A few weeks ago I dumped a frozen pound of stewing beef into the crock pot, covered it with water, and let it cook while I was at work all day. I had no idea what I was going to do with it when I got home, but I figured the meat would be ready, at least.

Turns out, I also ended up with a crock pot full of beef broth. Well, into the freezer with that!

Really, if you don't know what to do with something, toss it in the freezer. You'll find it one day and be totally inspired. And if you tend to forget what's in there, you can always keep a list on the door.

So, I had a few things in the freezer, and I wanted something fancy looking for dinner.

French Onion Soup

• 3-4 cups beef broth
• 1/2 c white wine (if you want)
• a sprig of thyme
• a bay leaf
• black pepper
• about a cup of caramelized onions
• a few slices of stale-ish bread
• ementhaller or swiss cheese

You can use some kind of already prepared broth for this if you'd like, but please simmer it with the herbs for at least a few minutes. I mean, you have to bring it to a boil anyway, you might as well toss more flavour in at the same time.

Get your oven broiler going and slice the bread if it isn't already.

But before you do, move one of the racks up. I prefer to use the second highest spot.

Combine the broth, booze, and herbs in a pot, and bring to a boil.

Exactly half a cup. I don't need to measure.

Let them simmer for asshort or as long as you'd like. I suggest about a half hour. The onions will need that long to thaw anyway.

Once the onions are thawed and the broth is hot and simmered, divide them up between your bowls.

Dinner for two in Corningware. I do have some oven proof bowls that were leftovers from the restaurant my parents owned, but they were smaller than the ramekins, and I wanted lots of soup. Any oven proof dish will work. And the look of the bowl won't change the flavour of the soup. I dare you to make it in a loaf pan.

Trim the bread slices to fit the bowl as best you can and lay them out on a baking sheet. Toast each side under the broiler for a few minutes. Just golden. You can do this in a toaster, but I wasn't sure about the size and shape and didn't want to have to go digging in there with a fork.

Have your cheese ready to go. Grate it if it's a block, or tear it if it's slices. We had slices because we'd just made another epic sammich.

Set the toasty bread on top of the soup, cover it with cheese, and put it under the hot broiler right away.

In no time at all the cheese will be a gooey golden lovely coat on top of the bread that's already half soaked with delicious beefy oniony broth.

And dinner is served. And since that bottle of wine is already opened... may as well pour yourself a glass.

Have you ever served soup in a loaf pan? What kind of serving dish have you had to improvise?

Comments

[the recipe guy]

This was much better than I expected it to be. Previously, all I'd had was the La Mad version, and Jenn's was superior. The only catch is the onions, but all you have to do is use her crack pot (er, crock pot) approach if you're so lazy you'd rather not even stir the onions.