← Nouns Cooking · French

Ingredients

• 50 g Butter
• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• 1 kg Onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 2 cloves Garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp Plain (all-purpose) flour
• 200 ml dry white wine
• 1.2 l good beef stock
• 3 sprigs Thyme
• 1 Bay leaves
• salt and black pepper
• 8 slices Baguette, about 2 cm thick
• 140 g Gruyère, grated

Method

1. Melt the butter with the oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onions with a pinch of salt and stir to coat, then cover and cook for 10 min until they collapse.
2. Uncover, stir in the sugar and cook for 40–50 min, stirring every few minutes and scraping the bottom, until the onions are soft, sticky and a deep chestnut brown. Turn the heat down if they catch; this slow stage is where the flavour comes from.
3. Add the garlic for 1 minute, then stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute more. Pour in the wine and let it bubble for 2 min, scraping up all the brown bits.
4. Add the stock, thyme and bay, bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 20 min. Season to taste and fish out the herbs.
5. Meanwhile toast the baguette slices under the grill until golden on both sides. Heat the grill to high.
6. Ladle the soup into heatproof bowls set on a tray, float two toasts on each and pile on the cheese. Grill for 3–5 min, until the cheese is melted, bubbling and spotted brown. Warn everyone that the bowls are very hot.

Tips

• Sweet onions burn quickly, so ordinary brown onions give the best colour and balance.
• The soup base freezes well; add the toast and cheese when you reheat it.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

BBC Good Food RecipeTin Eats Great British Chefs