French Onion Soup & Reverse Seared Steaks

BobS

I was hungry for French Onion Soup and this turned out really good. I should have had a few more toasted chunks of bread to float the cheese on top, but no one else complained.



I did a reverse sear on the steaks and here they were after the first turn at the sear. Note the snow on the table at the side.



Here was the steak plated with some Bearnaise sauce and a killer creamed spinach that Susan added.



For the soup, I grilled some shortribs and added them to roasted bones and chicken wings that I cooked in the oven.



Here is everything getting happy in the stock pot.



It takes a lot of onions to make a good onion soup and here we are with 6 big ones, almost filling the pot.



Here they are all cooked down, about 1.5 hours later.

Zippylip

Wow, very elaborate cook, looks beautiful on the plate, love the spinach too; & is that sleet on the egg table? Where are you?

BobS

We live in Wilmington, DE.

Beanie-Bean

Hi Bob,

Everything looks delicious! That's amazing how much the onions cook down!

Mike in Abita

French onion is my favorite soup. Yours looks fantastic thanks for sharing. The whole meal looks great.

Susan Egglaine

That soup looks fantastic. I did not know you used chicken & ribs for stock in onion soup. Would you post the complete recipe in the recipe section or email it to me. THANKS!!

BobS

Susan,

I have to be honest, I really do not follow a recipe – I just follow some general instructions I got out of a Julia Childs cookbook, many years ago.

This is an easy cook in the sense that you do not need to be following very precise directions.

The secret, I think, is the onions. You need to plan on them taking 1 ½ - 2 hours. You do not need to give them a lot of attention, but you do need to look after them.

I used 6, large onions for this cook and had enough soup for 8-10 people.

I think it is important to use yellow or white onions, because they have a stronger flavor and with the long cooking you do not need more sweetness from other varieties.

I start them in a little EVOO to get started on medium high and then I put the lid on the pot, so they steam in their own juice and start to seriously wilt down. This takes about 30 minutes and I probably stir it every 15 minutes or so.

Then I tip the lid on the pot and turn it down to medium and let some of the steam escape. Eventually the sugar from the onions will start to caramelize and build a fond on the bottom of the pan.

At that point I stir about every 10-15 minutes. You use a wooden spoon and stir well, letting the remaining liquid dissolve the fond and that is what starts to color the onions. As the sugar starts to brown, you need to pay a little more attention so it does not burn. More heat means shorter cooking times, but needs more attention.

As an aside, these onions are killer on steaks too!!

For the broth, I like to make my own, but I have been known to use canned broth and kick it up with packages of Lipton’s onion soup.

For this cook, I kind of went with what I could find. I was looking for some meaty shank bones, but could not find them, so I trimmed up short ribs and cooked those on the grill. I do not like everything browned on the grill, but that is a matter of taste.

I like to add a few chicken wings, because they have a fair amount of collagen that breaks down and makes the broth rich.

I added one onion, three stalks of celery, two bay leaves and about 8 peppercorns to make the stock. Would have added a couple of carrots too, but didn’t have any.

Sometimes if I have time, I like to sauté the veggies, but I did not have time for this batch.

As a tip to improve the color of the stock, use yellow onions and do not peel them. Cut of the root, but then just halve the onion(s) and put it in.

I ended up with about three quarts of stock, but the soup would have been great with another couple of cups, more or less.

Good luck,
Bob

Mainegg

that looks great Bob, thanks for sharing how you did it! That is how I cook too LOL. what is on hand and looks good or needs to be used up.never the same but always good

stike

great dinner. i love onion soup, and steak, of course,

thanks for the pics, too.

Susan Egglaine

Thank-you, I just got back from the store & picked up everything I thought I would need. Did not know if you used beef or pork ribs so I picked up both!

BobS

I used beef shortribs.

Good luck.