Jacques Pepin's Onion Soup Gratinee
"This is an amazingly easy way to make classic French Onion Soup. The quality of your stock will determine the quality of the soup. This makes four lovely individual crocks of cheese topped soup, assuming your crocks will hold at least two cups."
photo by Bigtime
- Ready In:
- 1hr 10mins
- Ingredients:
- 7
- Serves:
-
4
ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 onions, sliced
- 7 cups unsalted chicken stock, preferably homemade
- 1⁄2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1⁄2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- 16 slices baguette
- 10 ounces gruyere, grated on the large hole side of a box grater (or Comte or Emmenthaler)
directions
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan and saute the onions over medium high heat for about eight minutes or until they are lightly browned.
- Add stock, salt and pepper (if your stock is salted, do not add additional salt) and boil gently for about 15 minutes.
- In the meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 400°F.
- Toast the baguette slices in the oven.
- Place one or two slices of baguette in the bottom of each of four ovenproof crocks.
- Add 1/4 cup of grated cheese to each crock and place the crocks on a cookie sheet.
- Ladle the onion and stock mixture into the crocks.
- Top with the remaining grated cheese, pressing some of the cheese against the lip of each crock.
- Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until cheese is beautifully browned.
- In the last few moments, place the remaining baguette slices in the oven to warm.
- Serve the soup immediately with the toasted slices of baguette.
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Reviews
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This recipe is spot on! It is a great base for French Onion Soup, leaving much room for adjustments, substitutions and general shenanigans. I followed the base recipe to the t using Shop Rite brand organic beef flavored stock. I added about 1/2cup Fino dry Sherry. 1/4 cup at beginning and 1/4 cup before putting it in the oven. I baked the whole batch together using Organic Valley PROVOLONE cheese and it came out AMAZING! I can't imagine this recipe with homemade stock and the right variety of cheese. <br/><br/>Pair with a Semi-dry Pinot Grigio or your favorite wine. <br/><br/>A meal in and of itself....Thanks Jacques and Kate! -
Made this for 2013 Zaar Cookbook tag game and what an easy and delicious dish! I used homemade chicken stock and I also added some fresh thyme to the onions while cooking. Definately a keeper. Thank you for posting.
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This recipe is pretty much like Jacques does it except to make it Lyonaaise you have to add an egg yolk beaten with some Port wine to the soup before it is served. It makes it creamy and delish! Put it in a cassaorle type baker and sprinkle the cheese on top and then bake at 400 for about 25 mins or so till cheese is browned and melted. Then make a little hole in the center of the cheese and add the egg yolk with the Port wine. Yunno!
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This is an excellent recipe! I find myself coming back to it again and again. It is definitely best with home-made stock. -
Chef Kate is right - the quality of stock does make a difference - I used some home-made chicken stock and this soup was excellent. I normally make my soup with wine - but this was a nice change from my usual recipe!
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Chef Kate
Annapolis, 60
<p>I have always loved to cook. When I was little, I cooked with my Grandmother who had endless patience and extraordinary skill as a baker. And I cooked with my Mother, who had a set repertoire, but taught me many basics. Then I spent a summer with a French cousin who opened up a whole new world of cooking. And I grew up in New York City, which meant that I was surrounded by all varieties of wonderful food, from great bagels and white fish to all the wonders of Chinatown and Little Italy, from German to Spanish to Mexican to Puerto Rican to Cuban, not to mention Cuban-Chinese. And my parents loved good food, so I grew up eating things like roasted peppers, anchovies, cheeses, charcuterie, as well as burgers and the like. In my own cooking I try to use organics as much as possible; I never use canned soup or cake mix and, other than a cheese steak if I'm in Philly or pizza by the slice in New York, I don't eat fast food. So, while I think I eat and cook just about everything, I do have friends who think I'm picky--just because the only thing I've ever had from McDonald's is a diet Coke (and maybe a frie or two). I have collected literally hundreds of recipes, clipped from the Times or magazines, copied down from friends, cajoled out of restaurant chefs. Little by little, I am pulling out the ones I've made and loved and posting them here. Maybe someday, every drawer in my apartment won't crammed with recipes. (Of course, I'll always have those shelves crammed with cookbooks.) I'm still amazed and delighted by the friendliness and the incredible knowledge of the people here. 'Zaar has been a wonderful discovery for me.</p>
