cooking challenge week one: french onion soup

For my first week of the cooking challenge, I decided to try making French Onion Soup because, well, I love it, and I've never made it before. However, I didn't think it would be enough for us for dinner on a Saturday night so I framed a three course meal around it. Here's the recipe for the soup but if you want information on any of the other meals, email me.

You will need:

4 big onions, chopped in half then into small slices
60g salted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
Approximately 1.5 litres boiling water
200 mL white wine
1 tablespoon plain flour
2 slices of baguette per serving
Approximately 100g gruyere or masdaam cheese
Salt and Pepper to season

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 180'c. Put the butter and oil in a large saucepan, over medium - high heat. Once sizzling, add thinly sliced onions and stir until coated in the fat. Turn heat down to medium and continue to cook for a further 30 - 40 minutes. The onions should brown and soften but not burn nor crisp. Meanwhile, sprinkle the flour on to an oven tray and bake for 15 minutes, or until slightly golden on top. Add to the caramelized onions and mix thoroughly - make sure there are no flour lumps.

Put the white wine in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Leave bubbling for up to 1 minute, to boil off the alcohol content. Add to the onion mix and stir well. Add 1/2 of the boiled water and combine, then the rest of the water gradually until the consistency is as you like it. Turn the heat up to max and simmer for at least 10 minutes (If you accidentally simmer it too long, just add a bit more water).

To serve, put grated cheese on top of the baguette slices and grill until melted and brown. Float two baguette slices on top of each serve of soup. Season to taste.


For main course we had gratin dauphinois, which is another favourite, with grilled halibut, spinach and a beurre blanc (300g of butter for a sauce...ouch).



For dessert, I made apricot ice cream (following my mum's recipe which is both easy and absolutely delicious - no ice cream maker necessary!) and sugar shapes, and for virtue I added mangoes and kiwi fruit.

All in all, a delicious Saturday night in.
Love,dd.x