Une Pause Gourmande

It's cold. It's windy. It's rainy and grey. The perfect weather for a little "chocolat chaud" don't you think? 

French Onion Soup: The Verdict

I'd like to say that it wasn't that bad, but the truth is that it was. I had high hopes for this "shortcut" recipe but, alas, it was "une désastre". Everything started off great. I had my goggles, my sharpest knife and some onions. I started cooking the onions on medium heat, stirring and letting them....well caramalize! If you've done this before you know it takes a while so I'd started in the early afternoon figuring the soup would cook a while in the broth. I added the Calvados, which admittedly is unusual for this soup, but surprisingly I really liked the flavor of it with the onions. The problem arose when it came time to add the onions to the broth. I could tell right away it was way too watery. Store-bought broth just wasn't gong to do. I tried to remedy it by reducing the broth and cooking it in a cast iron casserole in the oven, but it didn't help. Onions in dishwater anyone? It was awful and dinner ended up being baguette and cheese. Some things just can't be done quickly. French food is undoubtedly about letting flavors meld slowly together, you just can't rush it. It's back to the drawing board for this one!

One good thing did come of it though : the caramalized onions with Calvados are great on baguette with a good melted gruyère cheese!