From time to time I’ll catch myself thinking about french onion soup. It’s been a real long time since I’ve eaten this, and yesterday I stumbled upon this recipe on the new york times cooking site (of course). It was rainy and windy all morning, and I had run to and from the 5th ave mile, and soup was on my mind, so this was perfect!
I finally signed up for a marathon this fall, and lately I’ve been trying to watch my protein intake. I don’t usually track what I eat, I try to be mindful about eating well-rounded, but with all the running that I’ve been doing and that I’m about to do, I know I need to be eating more protein. With that context, the recipe does call for white beans which sounds kinda weird but I thought it would be perfect for the time being. Please note that you do not have to add beans to this. And honestly I thought it was a little too bean-y and would only do one can next time but I’ll add that at the bottom.
I think I’ve also had Europe on my mind. I did a long run with a friend from my Trader Joes days who recently went to Paris. We talked about loving the city and seeing ourselves there in the future. A few days ago I was talking to one of my colleagues about her time living in London and it inspired me – I’ve been wanting to get out of New York for a while now and always limited myself to living within this country, but why? Talking with her opened up this door in my mind that I can’t close, this opportunity to live internationally soon, real soon, and now it feels so real. I guess making french onion soup is some sort of ode to that.
I think I was also in the mood for onions because of the onion focaccia that my mom and I picked up at Pino’s in park slope on Saturday. My mom told me that my family used to eat there often back in the day when we lived in the area so it was nice to be back. The onion focaccia was so dang good, I kept going back for more… and then more. So maybe it was a combination of the onion focaccia, dreaming of Europe, and not having french onion soup in more than half a decade that led me to making this.
Let’s get to it! French Onion white bean soup by Hetti Lui McKinnon.
Ingredients (4 servings):
- 2 tablespoons salted or unsalted butter
- 4 medium yellow onions (about 2 pounds), thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon thyme leaves (from 4 to 5 sprigs)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 2 (14-ounce) cans white beans, such as cannellini or butter beans, drained
- 2 tablespoons salted or unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon Dijon or whole-grain mustard
- 1 teaspoon thyme leaves (from 4 to 5 sprigs), plus more for garnish
- Salt and pepper
- ½ pound bread, such as sourdough or ciabatta, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 3 ounces Gruyère cheese, finely grated
Directions:
- Prepare the soup: Melt the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high. Once the butter has melted, add onions, thyme, sugar and 1 teaspoon salt, and stir to combine. Cover and cook, stirring every 2 minutes, until the onions are very soft and caramelized, about 20 minutes. If the onions start to burn, reduce heat to medium.
- Meanwhile, make the croutons: Heat the oven to 350 degrees and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Place the butter in a large bowl and microwave on high for 30 to 45 seconds (or melt over medium heat in a small pot or skillet). To the butter, add the mustard and thyme, season with salt and black pepper, and whisk to combine. Add the bread pieces and toss very well until coated. Transfer the pieces to the lined sheet pan, spreading them out into a single layer, and scatter the cheese on top. Bake until golden, 16 to 18 minutes.
- Uncover the onions and add the balsamic vinegar and soy sauce. Stir the onions vigorously to deglaze the pan. Stir in the vegetable stock and the beans. Cover and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes. Season with salt and lots of pepper.
- To serve, ladle the soup into bowls, top with the croutons and scatter over thyme leaves.
Yummmmmmm. I’ve never been one for croutons but these were tasty and fun to make! Plus you can’t go wrong with sourdough. I eyeballed the crouton recipe to serve one.
As soon as I tasted this I felt warm and happy. Too many beans, yes, but the onion flavor was very present and this was everything I had hoped it would be.
Honest review:
This made me happy! The onions, soy sauce, and balsamic created this deep, well known flavor that we all love. The croutons provided this pop of flavor that complimented the onion-y-ness and the gruyere melted on top was just perfect. This soup felt so appropriate for a rainy sunday afternoon and I have plenty of leftovers for the rest of the week.
Taste: 8/10 – too beany (will only use one can or none next time), and nothing beats a classic french onion soup with beef broth.
Difficulty: 2/10 – this wasn’t one-pot so there were a lot of dishes being used, but there were minimal ingredients which did make this less complicated. The steam from cooking down the onions kept burning my hands as I stirred them which was about the most difficult part of this recipe, so overall, difficulty was not very high. I found this surprising honestly, for some reason I always thought that french onion soup was really fancy and difficult to make (although I didn’t broil anything).
Price: 1/10 – my goodness this was so cheap. I had most things on hand, pantry staples, and the cheese was the most expensive ingredient (it wasn’t that pricey). Super affordable.
Okay, my eyes hurt now. Write soon.
-M3