Friday, February 24, 2012

FFwD: Cheese-Topped Onion Soup

I was looking forward to cooking this week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe: Cheese-Topped Onion Soup (pg 56 of Around My French Table), because I've made it before, and know it is delicious. Then my central air conditioning busted last week. I know that sounds like a ridiculous complaint to make in February, but the temperature started to creep upwards, until yesterday, when it hit 79 degrees outside, and hit 89 degrees in my house, according to the thermostat. Definitely not soup weather.

I'd already bought the ingredients, so I went ahead and cooked the soup anyway. Man, I wish those damn onions caramelized faster. Last time, they took me three hours. I cranked the heat up to a little less than medium heat, and it took me an hour and a half this time. Better than three hours, but still more than I have patience for on a regular basis. By the time lunch was ready, between the steam and the broiler action, I was a sweat-ball. Not good. Aren't you all glad I shared my soup experience with you this week?

Like so many foods, this soup really is worth all the time and slow preparation. It is so, so good. We're having it for dinner tonight. I didn't put nearly enough cheese on mine yesterday. Tonight, I'll know better. Prepare to be smothered in mountains of wonderful gruyere, soup!

This soup always gives me tureen-envy. Repeat after me: "I will not buy more dishware. I will not buy more dishware." 

16 comments:

  1. Oh my. Yeah, I'm not feeling the heat while making soup. Kudos for pushing through!

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  2. I agree about smothering it in cheese! I think it's what makes it.
    I understand about this not being a hot weather dish, it's summer her in Australia and when I stopped at the bottle shop to buy the wine the man laughed at me when I said I needed it for onion soup! And I cooked mine just over the half way mark so it meant standing there and stirring non stop to get the onions to caramelise! And it still took hours!!! You soup looks great!

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  3. so glad our temperature waited until this week to warm up - it was quite cold last weekend when we enjoyed the soup :)

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  4. Your soup is very delicious looking. But you are right...lots of patience needed for this one, and way more than the hour or more Dorie suggests...the "more" part is WAY MORE.

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  5. Good for you for trying this in hot weather. Here on the east coast the weather is chilly and
    damp, perfect weather for soup . Tricia and I both enjoyed this dish, all tasters in both houses
    were very happy. I think it was the cognac.....

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  6. You are truly devoted to the cause! It was warm here yesterday, but my AC is working! I don't know if I would have been able to go through with it otherwise.

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  7. Oh, it wouldn't hurt just to buy a few soup bowls! I must have the same urge to buy dishware that you have--even though I have dozens of perfectly good soup bowls, I don't have any with handles, which is what I wanted for this soup. I didn't get any, but I kind of wish I would. I think we're all in agreement that there's no need to have the stove on its lowest possible setting in order to caramelize onions.

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  8. Glad that you decided to make this week's FOS despite your AC problems. Most of the country cannot feel your pain regarding heat. Glad you liked the recipe. Yes, it's time-consuming, isn't it?

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  9. As I watch the snow falling this morning, I can't imagine what 80's look like. You are a trooper! And I think you will like the redo with the extra cheese. Hello, mama!
    A tureen has been on my radar - but fortunately, I haven't found one I like yet or I would probably be in trouble :-)

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  10. Well, on the bright side your AC went out when it was only in the 70s. I imagine that it could be much worse in the middle of a hard core Texas summer. And DO NOT buy any dishware... just think about all the nice kitchenware you will be able to buy in Italy!

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    1. Haha--that's the only thing staying my hand, Rose.

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  11. I can sympathise with you - it is summer here and it is not the weather for soups, stews or anything of a similar ilk. Your soup loks great, despite the time it took to caramelise the onions.

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  12. I can share your enthusiasm with bakeware, and other dishes to serve in. I am out of storage room! Hearing that you've spent 3 hours before caramelizing onions, I didn't feel so bad, except mine failed to do so. Yes, this soup begs for lots of cheese!

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  13. It was in the 90's last week and I just couldn't do this. Sous Chef wasn't going to eat this hot/hearty soup, and I wasn't much more interested.

    BTW - Have you seen the movie Todays Special? It is terrific, and has Madhur Jaffrey in it. I've been tempted to get one of her books, looks like you like the one you are using right now....

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    1. I haven't seen that movie, but I'll check it out. I love the book I'm using now, and once you toast your cumin, mix up your garam masala, etc, and have a stock of it, the recipes aren't that complicated. I say go for the book!

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  14. Oh, yes- this fellow Texan totally understands the heat thing; especially in the Corpus area! We loved this soup, but that blasted onion caramelize process wore my butt out- I finally turned up the heat & threw in extra cognac! I will enjoy following your Indian Cooking comments, as I have that little cookbook & I need to dig into it. Cheers & cook on through!

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