As much as I value efficiency, sometimes the satisfaction of using up last bits of ingredients outweighs everything else. My fridge looks mostly empty now save for a lot of condiments thanks partly to a single comforting bowl of French onion soup. Soup is often made-ahead and in large batches. No wonder. You’re doing the same amount of work, it takes the same amount of time, so why not make many bowls instead of just one?
I had my reasons. Three reasons, in fact.
- A bowl of diluted beef broth I used previously to cook couscous
- A half-emptied pastry bag filled with garlic and herb Boursin
- An opened bottle of white wine
I don’t know how I came to the conclusion of French onion soup but it just seemed so obvious and inevitable. It was chilly and wet on Saturday. The kind of weather that made me want soup…with a cheesy carb-y lid. So I rolled up my sleeves, shushed my desire for efficiency, and started cooking.
To begin, I sliced three medium size yellow onions and heated a frying pan with a big pat of butter. It took forever to caramelize the onion at low heat but I wasn’t in a hurry. I stirred the onion every now and then while my attention was happily occupied by the television. When the onion finally took on a lovely mahogany colour, I liberally deglazed the pan with white wine and threw in a big sprig of thyme. Once the alcohol evaporated, I added the beef broth for a quick simmer. The broth needed a bit of seasoning before I filled an oven-proof soup bowl.
Cheesy crouton is the raison d'être of French onion soup. In a classical preparation, you can expect stale baguette slices softened with the flavourful soup and topped with a blanket of melted Gruyere or Comté. Mmm…yummy nutty delicious Comté. But traditional was not the point of the exercise last weekend. Any bread and any melty cheese would do. I defrosted a whole wheat pita from the freezer and trimmed it with scissors to fit the bowl. Pita was rather thin so I stacked three pieces to build up some height. On each slice, I smeared a generous dollop of Boursin. Blasphemous? You bet.
I topped the soup bowl with my MacGyver crouton and sent it under the broiler. The cheese bubbled and browned to my delight. I snipped some chives for a final garnish and sat down to enjoy my French Onion Soup For One.
Not exactly something that I would serve to anyone outside of immediate family but the soup made me smile ear to ear. Especially when I stared at my now even emptier fridge.
