French Onion Soup with Homemade Beef Stock

While making the beef stock from scratch is time consuming, it really makes for a fabulous soup! Of course you can always buy beef stock too (if you are in a bit of a hurry)! This serves 4 as a main course with crunchy French bread and a simple side salad (try mixing tender butter lettuce, sweet green and red leaf lettuce, some crunchy iceberg, confettied light green cabbage and grated carrot with candied pecans and a light balsamic or Italian dressing).

Step: 1

Place the water, beef ribs, parsnips, onions, carrots, celery, bay leaves, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of black pepper, and 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme into a large soup pot over medium heat, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook, skimming and discarding the foam that forms on the top of the broth, until the broth is a rich brown color, 5 to 6 hours. Broth may be made in a slow cooker. Strain the broth, discard the ribs and vegetables, and refrigerate extra broth.

Step: 2

Melt butter in a large heavy skillet or cast iron pan over medium-low heat, and cook the onions and garlic until caramelized and brown, about 30 minutes. Mix flour, herbes de Provence, paprika, and garlic powder together in a bowl, and sprinkle the flour mixture over the browned onions. Cook and stir 5 minutes; add salt and black pepper to taste, and mix in parsley and 1 more teaspoon of thyme.

Step: 3

Pour in 4 cups of beef broth, white wine, sherry, and hot pepper sauce; simmer until the flavors have blended and the soup has thickened, at least 15 minutes. More time couldn’t hurt.

Step: 4

About 15 minutes before serving time, preheat oven’s broiler, and place a rack about 6 inches from the heat source.

Step: 5

Brush the slices of French bread with flavored olive oil, and toast under the preheated broiler until well browned on each side, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Ladle soup into ovenproof soup bowls, and place a toasted bread slice on top of each bowl. Sprinkle each bread slice evenly with Gruyere cheese.

Step: 6

Place the filled soup bowls under the broiler until the cheese is melted, bubbly, and browned, 2 to 4 minutes or as needed.

Per Serving: 865 calories; protein 42.1g; carbohydrates 82.5g; fat 40.7g; cholesterol 135.9mg; sodium 1319.9mg.

The name of “stew” can refer to 2 time a dish and a cooking method. Stewing makes not fast cooking piece of meat, raw fruit or beans in a tastefull water based . It’s similar to braising, instead it makes have a few notable differences. The raw animal vested is chopped into smaller pieces but of being cooked whole , and the water based material all of it covers the essential in a stew as different to a braise’s halfway full . When meat or raw fruit are cooked using this method, the resulting dish is called stew.

Stew has a perception for making a rib-sticking meal that warms you up on a freezing , winter day. It’s right that ; a bowl of classic beef stew does have warming featured food , but stew’s comfort factor more than a way beyond protecting you from the cold . It’s all about those soft and chunks of meat and vegetables, swimming in a thick, ultra-rich gravy. The more they come together creates the ultimate comfort food, no matter the weather.