French Onion Soup

This is one of my favorite soups, and one of my favorite recipes to make. It truly does have a great wow factor, and is wonderful served either as a starter, or alternatively as a lunch. Personally I find that there are few things more luxurious or more simple than sitting down in the living room of my parents house in Paris on a rainy afternoon, rain lashing on the veranda with a bowl of warming onion soup.

My recipe is very simple, some recipes add alcohol or vinegar to the stock, some even add bacon changing the nature of the dish entirely. It is also possible to top the soup with a poached egg as is often done in belgium, however here I prefer to top the soup with the more traditional gruyere toast.

This recipe should feed around four people. To start off finely chop a whole kilo of onions and fry them in a generous quantity of butter, sprinkling them with a generous amount of salt to ensure that they don't brown too deeply. When they have softened and turned slightly translucent cover with 500ml of stock, you can either use vegetable stock, though beef stock is traditionally used (and no, I don't and have never made my own stock).

Simmer for 15 minutes until the flavours have mellowed and the stock has darkened. While the soup is simmering, thickly slice a baguette and place it under the grill on a baking tray until it has toasted lightly, flip and toast the other side. When the soup has simmered ladle it into ovenproof bowls and top with the toast. Top with grated gruyere cheese (though you could also use emmental or cheddar) and place under the grill until the cheese has melted and browned.

I must credit my mother for providing the recipe and I will confess that I don't often make it at home, as my version pales in comparison to hers, which uses fat white onions from the garden, and crusty french bread direct from the bakery, however don't let that put you off making this classic dish, one of the simplest soups to make, and wonderfully comforting and warming.

Ingredients:

1kg Onions
50g unsalted butter
500ml stock
1 baguette
200g Gruyere Cheese