French Onion Soup and Green Salad

We made French Onion Soup from Joy of Cooking. This is an excellent version. It takes quite a while to cook–2 hours from start to finish, but it’s well worth it. The onions slow cook for a long time that they develop a deep, rich flavor. We accompanied the soup with a green salad, and we created the dressing recipe. The salad was classic and tasty and complimented the soup very well.

Soup Recipe:

• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 5 medium onions, thinly sliced
• Pinch of dried thyme
• 2 Tbsp. dry sherry or cognac
• 3 1/2 cups beef stock
• 1 to 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 2 thin slices (~1/2 inch) of French bread per serving
• 3 Tbsp. Gruyere or Swiss cheese, grated, per serving

For soup:

Heat butter and olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat until butter is melted. Add onions and thyme and stir to coat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions start to brown, about 15 minutes. Watch to ensure that onions do no scorch. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to cook, covered, stirring more often, until onions have a rich brown color, about 40 minutes.

Add dry sherry or cognac, increase the heat to high, and stir constant until all of the dry sherry or cognac has cooked off. Stir in beef stock. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, for 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

For croutons:

Heat oven to 300°F. Arrange French bread slices on a sheet pan. Bake until crisp, turning once, about 15 minutes.

Assembly:

Ladle the hot soup into the bowls and top with 2 French bread slices. Sprinkle each bowl with the cheese. With the flame set to medium-high, use the creme brulee torch to melt the cheese until browned and bubbly. Serve immediately.

Salad Recipe:

• Greens of your choice
• 4 TBSP Olive Oil
• 2TBSP red wine vinegar
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt divided
• 3 garlic cloves

Combine the olive oil, vinegar, pepper and 1/8 tsp of salt in a bowl.

Put the garlic cloves on a cutting board. Turn your knife on its side with the edge pointing away from you, place the knife on top of a garlic glove, and whack the knife with the palm of your hand. This method crushes the clove and removes the garlic’s skin. Repeat with the remaining cloves. Add the remaining 1/8 tsp of salt to the garlic. Run the side of the knife over the garlic until you get a garlic paste.

Add the garlic paste to a heat safe pan (not a non stick pan). Using your torch, heat the garlic paste over medium heat until the garlic gets slightly brown and no longer has a raw flavor.

Add the torched garlic to the dressing and use a fork or whisk to emulsify the dressing.

Mix with your greens and enjoy.

Soup:

Salad: