A (Not-So) French Onion Soup

Onion soup on a humid Sunday seems quaint,
but it surely tamed six hungry tummies!

Onion soup cures colds and heartaches. Well, at least for me.

When Patrick asked the ingredients for the onion soup while doing his shopping for the feast, I didn't know I'll be preparing it. Taken by surprise, I had to make it from how I usually do it - not the French way.

There are two ways to prepare your onion for the soup, each depends on the length of time available to cook it:

- Minced onion: Short-time preparation. Personally, I like taking bites on the sweet white onion while sipping the soup. It gives a kick to its otherwise gooey texture.

- Peel it, leave it whole: Longer time required. Aside from the length of time which takes an hour at least, you need a good thick-bottomed pot to avoid burning your onions. Burnt food NEVER taste good. If you prefer just taking the taste of onion on the soup, this is for you.

How to make it:

Put the pot in medium fire. Add a dash of olive oil before adding the butter to avoid the latter from burning.

Add the onion and stir to spread evenly the butter. Turn to low fire until it caramelizes.

Add old bread or croutons. If you don't have old bread, toast three slices of bread, until it becomes hard enough that it leaves “dust” when you break it into cubes with your hand. Bread adds creaminess to the soup without the strong milky taste. I always replace buttermilk or milk in small proportions required on soup with toasted old bread.

Mix flour with white wine until lumps disappear before adding to pot.

Add salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. A freshly grated parmesan cheese (amount depends on how salty you want it) can be a great alternative to salt.

Starving and running short on time, we let the onion stock simmer for 30 minutes leaving the minced onion crunchier than it should be. Honestly, it worked – the taste was great with a rather odd texture from the onion contrasting the soft sponge-like croutons on creamy soup.