French Onion Soup

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When I made prime rib for the holidays, I served it with a chimichurri sauce. With the fond, I made some au jus. This served as the base for the beef broth.

I’ve had caramelized onions in the freezer and this seemed like a great, synergistic way to use the two. If you have the ingredients on-hand or in some prepared version, the assembly and cooking of the soup turns out to be trivial. The pain in making french onion soup is all the prep work (beef broth and caramelized onions), which can be prepared beforehand for other uses.

French Onion Soup:

French onion soup is real easy if you have pre-made caramelized onions and a flavourful broth. If you don’t have a broth, it can probably be substituted with beef stock and some dry onion soup mix.

Broth

  • 1/4 cup of beef broth
  • 1/4 cup of wine
  • leftover fond from browning meats
  • sprigs of thyme, rosemary, and/or bay leaves
  1. Deglaze fond with wine.
  2. Add herbs.
  3. Cook off alcohol by boiling for a few minutes.
  4. Add broth and simmer for another few minutes.
  5. Season to taste.

French onion soup

  • Broth, warmed to serving temperature
  • 1/4 cup of caramelized onion
  • 1/4 cup of stale, crusty bread. Cut into manageable chunks, keep them large.
  • 1 slice of provolone or gruyere
  1. Assemble with onions in the pot first.
  2. Add bread layer.
  3. Fill with broth.
  4. Top with cheese. Try to maximize surface area, for maximal browning.
  5. Broil for a few minutes.

The warmth of the broth and the few minutes in the broiler will warm the soup sufficiently for serving.