Name: Onion soup (Soupe à l’oignon)
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 55 min
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: Serves: 4
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 4 slices French bread; sea salt and freshly ground black pepper; bunch of fresh chives, snipped, to garnish; 100 g (3½ oz) Gruyère cheese, grated; 1 tbsp olive oil; 2 garlic cloves, crushed; 6 white onions, finely sliced; 750 ml (1 pint 7 fl oz) beef stock; 25 g (1 oz) flour; 250 ml (9 fl oz) red wine

Preparation info

Serves:
4

Difficulty
Easy
Ready in
1 hr 20

Appears in

New Bistro

By Fran Warde

Published 2009

About

Every region and bistro across France has its own version of this classic. Some use white wine, others red, some slice the onions thickly and others thinly, but this is my version and I find that the marriage of flavours makes a great onion soup! It’s best to use white onions as their sweeter-tasting flavour works well in this soup.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
6 white onions, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed

Method

Heat the oil in a medium pan, add the onions and garlic and sauté gently for 30 minutes. Then increase the heat and sauté for a further 5 minutes, allowing the onions to take on a golden colour.

Add the flour and mix in well, then slowly pour in the stock and wine, season and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, cover and leave to simmer for 20 minutes, stirring from time to time.