French Onion Soup {with Bone Marrow Toasts}
I love French Onion Soup. How could you not? There’s onions that have been cooked down so they are sweet & delicious, crusty bread on top soaking all that beefy broth & copious amounts of cheese all gooey and melty. This soup is definitely a meal in itself. With a nice glass of red wine, you are set!
If you have read my post titled ‘Nostalgia – That Little Bugger’, you also know that I love marrow. So, what I’ve done here is cooked the beef bones and used the marrow to spread on the bread that goes on top of the soup. Originally, I was going to put the marrow in the broth itself, but then realized that it would have been too greasy and ain’t nobody got time for that :)! So, now you are getting the flavour from the marrow, without messing up that delicious broth.
The onions are also cooked in the same dutch oven that the bones are cooked in so you can get all those little googly bits from the bones caramelizing on the bottom of the pan infusing your soup. I’m all about that. Yum! Another little touch with this recipe is the use of star anise. I remember several years ago watching a cooking show with chef Heston Blumenthal; he was making a pasta sauce and used star anise to enhance the beefy flavour of his dish. It really does add a nice flavour component (just remember to remove when it has done it’s job). Hubby regularly uses star anise when he makes pho, too. You should be able to easily find it in a bulk food supply store, like Bulk Barn. If not, don’t worry about it!
You will use quite a bit of onions in the recipe, but they quickly cook down and, besides that, this is French onion soup, isn’t it? They say don’t cry over spilt milk, but you may cry over onions when you have to slice ’em…hehe. And, just to let ya know, that your breath may not thank me after eating this soup, but your belly surely will! It’s worth it, though! This recipe was inspired from a recent trip to my parent’s. Mom had grown some onions in her garden, so I gladly took some of those off her hands for use in this soup. Talk about local and fresh!
It’s amazing how some simple little onions, along with a few other ingredients can and be transformed into this…..
Well, hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do! Have an awesome week!
French Onion Soup with Bone Marrow Toasts
Ingredients
- 2 beef bones with marrow
- 1.75 tsp salt
- 1.25 tsp black pepper
- 8 cups beef stock -unsalted
- 1 star anise
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp butter -unsalted
- 8 cups onions -sliced
- 4 tsp thyme -fresh, chopped (plus more for garnish)
- 2 cloves garlic -minced
- 1/3 cup brandy
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar -plus more for garnish, if desired
- 6 slices sour dough bread -or your fav
- 3/4 cup gruyere cheese -grated
Instructions
- Set oven to 425F. In a large dutch oven (the one you will be using to make the soup), place beef bones and season with 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool. Then remove bone marrow from bones. Place marrow in small food processor and pulse until smooth. Lay to one side for later use.
- In a saucepan, add beef stock and star anise. Turn on low and heat up for use later.
- Using the same dutch oven that you cooked the beef bones, heat tbsp. of olive oil with 1 tsp of butter on low medium low. Add onions and season with 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper. Cook (don't brown) for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, add 1/2 cup of hot water. Repeat this process two more times, so that the onions have cooked about 30 minutes in total. Then, add 3 tsp (1 tbsp.) of thyme and garlic and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Turn up heat slightly and deglaze with brandy. Cook for about 3 minutes.
- From a height, gently add 2 tbsp. of flour and stir through the onions until absorbed, about a minute or so.
- Add beef stock (remove star anise), worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar , 1 tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp pepper and 1 tsp salt. Bring to a low simmer and cook for 5 minutes.
- Remove about 3 cups of the mixture from the dutch oven. Using an immersion blender, blitz that 3 cups until smooth and then add back to the remaining mixture in the dutch oven. Stir to combine.
- Divide mixture among oven safe bowls. Using your reserved bone marrow, spread some on each bread slice. Place bread (bone marrow side up) on top of soup and then top with 2 tbsp. of cheese.
- Place bowls on a sheet pan (helps with any spillage) and bake until cheese melts, just a few minutes. Remove and garnish with thyme and drizzle of balsamic vinegar (if desired).
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