Sussex
French
A classic French dish made richer and more interesting with beer - and
using top quality local ingredients. There are many options for
serving this. The French often sprinkle grated cheese on it, or add
croutons. A luxurious touch might be to make your own
crisply fried bread for the croutons but melt some cheese on it before
cutting it into croutons. However you finish it, you must serve it
with some really nice crusty bread -
try our Very Easy Beer Bread - and a beer with it!
The recipe quantities make two hearty portions, or four normal helpings. Make sure that you use
a BIG pan as there's a lot of liquid and the beer could foam over.
Best to open the beer, decant it into a jug, let the head subside, then
whisk occasionally to release the conditioning and make it more manageable.
If you're using OXO cubes to make up beef stock make sure you have plenty on
hand - you need 3 cubes per pint of water.
Where quantities are given in cups, this is the UK cup = 10 fl oz/280 ml
Preparation Time: 15 minutes Cooking Time: 60-70 minutes
Ingredients:
* ⅛ cup/35ml rapeseed oil (or olive oil)
* 3 large onions, thinly sliced (after our first test we doubled the quantity of onions as the authentic French versions are soup between the onion, rather than soup with onions in!)
Salt and pepper to taste
* 3 cups/850 ml beef stock (you could use chicken if preferred, although beef stock gives the authentic taste)
* 1 bottle Merry Andrew
* 1 bay leaf
* ¼ teaspoon thyme
Optional - 1 clove of garlic, finely crushed
Optional - croutons and/or grated cheese
* To make enough for 4/8 just double the quantities where the symbol * appears next to them.
Method:
Put the oil into a large deep pan, and heat it over a medium-high heat.
Add the onions (and garlic if used), sprinkle lightly with salt and
pepper, then cover the pot and cook the onions for about 30 minutes.
Keep checking and stirring from time to time - you want the onions to end up
golden brown, but not completely caramelised.
Meanwhile open and decant the beer and give it time to settle. Also
make up the stock, then add it to the pot with the beer when the onions are ready along
with the bay leaf and thyme. Bring the soup to the boil, then reduce
to a simmer and continue to cook for about 30 minutes - the onions should be
soft and the soup should have a rich, onion flavour.
Adjust seasoning if necessary and serve as described.