French Onion Soup, California Style

Right out of the gate I know what many of you are thinking, “Really? How can this be French onion soup without the gratinée of cheese? It looks like French onion soup on a diet! Not traditional; culinary heresy! Off with his ladle.”

Or maybe some of you feel the same way I do in that the 1 pound of melted cheese is a bit much. After eating half a portion of rich French onion soup I feel the need to take a run around the block before the next course. The only exception is having a bowl after a cold day on the slopes. One portion and a glass of red wine and I’m in a coma by the fire place.

If you remove the heavy bonnet of cheese what’s left is pure gold! Melted onions, garlic, fresh thyme, dry red wine or vermouth and of course the rich deep flavor of good beef broth. The broth!

I came across this particular method of making my soup a few years back when I was experimenting with beef brisket. I had noticed that after slow cooking a brisket I was always left with a pool of fatty broth in the base of the roasting pan. I didn’t want to throw it out but never thought to save it, as my inclination was that it was too viscous for any food application (aside from the obvious gravies)- that is until, recently.

After figuring out how to flavor the broth, the next step was to lighten the soup up with a powdery snow like dusting of cheese on a slice of toasted baguette. Aka.. crouton.

You will be shocked at how easy and good this is. But wait, there’s more! This is only the beginning.

The soup is the first in a three part series on the wonderful brisket, so tune back in for two more wonderful brisket recipes. (Oh and if you’re wondering, the brisket is the front portion of the beef breast that lies between the front legs. It can be either of 2 layers of meat that are separated by a layer of fat. It weighs between 6 and 8 lbs. It’s a tough muscle that HAS to be slow cooked.)

PS. As another disclaimer, the onions are not caramelized but honestly they are just as flavorful and complex slow cooking (partially melting) in the beef jus.

StevO

French Onion Soup, California style
Serves 4 plus

*special equipment-roasting pan, micro plane

Ingredients
1 4 pound beef brisket, excess fat removed
2 yellow onions, sliced ½ inch
1 whole head of garlic, top removed (roast garlic style)
1 cup dry red wine
Salt and fresh black pepper

Fresh thyme, chopped
Toasted rounds of baguette
Wedge of gruyere

Instructions
Place the brisket in the roasting pan. Cover with onions. Pour the red wine over brisket. Place the garlic cut side down in the pan. Season generously with salt and pepper. Cover with foil and cook at 300 degrees for around 4 hours, or until fork tender.

Remove onions with a slotted spoon and rough chop.

Pour the juice of the brisket into a container and chill to let the fat rise to the top and congeal.
Remove the fat layer off from the broth and warm up in a pot. Place a few tablespoons of onions PLUS some roast garlic in the base of a bowl. Sprinkle with fresh thyme and ladle some warm broth over top.

To serve
Place the bowl in front of your guest and float one crouton slice in the center of the bowl. Grate a dusting of cheese over top. And Voila!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 10:12 am and is filed under Soups & Salads , beef broth, cheese, dry red wine, french onion soup, fresh thyme, garlic, hands on gourmet, onion, onion soup, vermouth. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.