Thursday, February 28, 2013

40 Meatless Meals:French Onion Soup (2)


8-10 large onions, sliced
1/2 cup butter
60 ounces beef broth
1 1/2 tsp. Worchestershire sauce
3 bay leaves
1 tsp thyme
pepper
10 slices french bread, toasted
grated Parmesan and/or shredded mozzarella cheese

  1. Saute onions in butter until crisp-tender. Transfer to slow cooker.
  2. Add broth, Worchestershire sauce, bay leaves.
  3. Cover and cook on low 5-7 hours.
  4. Ladle into bowls. Top with a slice of bread and cheese.
10 servings.
Source: Fix It and Forget It (2000), page 61

NOTES:
  • This soup was so flavorful and unbelievably easy.
  • I made half a batch.
  • I used a variety of onions (one red, one sweet white, and three yellows). I think this contributed to the delicious flavor.
  • The original recipe called for condensed beef broth (like Campbells), but I think that would be too intense and probably too salty. I just used a carton of store brand beef broth.
  • I usually think French Onion is oversalted, so didn't add any salt to this recipe. Surprisingly, that was a good choice. I didn't add any at the end either.
  • I buttered and toasted the bread on a grill (like a grilled cheese sandwich) and that added a nice flavor and texture to the bread.

2 comments:

Liz said...

Wouldn't work here because my son would consider the beef broth not maigre. However, I've made onion soup with vegetable broth and that works pretty well. It's not quite the same (a bit sweeter tasting), but it works.

Margaret Mary said...

I thought of that too, but this recipe definitely follows this line of reasoning on the topic: http://happycatholic.blogspot.com/2013/02/lent-and-fasting-from-meat-on-fridays.html