Cheesy Onion and Cumin Soup

It is currently 9 am and 9 chilly degrees as I write this story in the city of Melbourne, Australia. Hello winter!
For the first time in my life, I decided to make the very famous French onion soup. And what a great choice it was. Making a wonderful appearance from a hot oven, like a cheesy volcanic eruption, this soup is perfectly suited for the cold season.
Of course, me being me, I couldn’t make this classic dish without giving it my own touch. As I gently sautéed the onions for this golden soup, I had a flash of divine inspiration from the culinary gods, somewhere from the faraway heavens. They whispered to me to add a smidgen of cumin to the onions, helping to round out the flavours and to complement the molten cheese in the finished soup. Thank You!

I have 2 points of importance in preparing this potage:

1. You will need to make your own brown stock. I say this, not because I have anything against stock cubes and their convenience, but only because this soup is made from a very basic flavor profile, which includes onion, stock, cheese and bread. In other words, there isn’t really much there to begin with, and using stock cubes just wont cut it. Stock cubes lack body. If you make this soup from stock cubes you will be very disappointed- it will taste of salty onion water. Making stock isn’t very hard at all and for this dish you need not worry about keeping it crystal clear. Just cook some beef on the bone (beef shin is perfect), with onion, celery, carrot, parsley stalks, bay, thyme and peppercorns, covered with water, very very gently. Do not boil and keep it under the simmer. The water should barely move. It should be ready after about 3 hours, but if you are low on time, 1 hour is fine.


2. The bread used is of great importance. Buy a real loaf of bread from a real baker. Not from Brumbys, or Bakers Delight. And certainly not from a Vietnamese bakery. You will need a dense, heavy white bread, with a solid crust. Phillipas bakery makes superb bread in this fashion- I used her Pane Francese Naturale. If you use bad bread, your soup will have the texture of glue, and the taste of cheap bread mix. You have been warned…

Ingredients
50g unsalted cultured butter
1 kilo brown onions, peeled and thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 –2 tsp ground cumin
300ml dry white wine
1.5 litres homemade stock, rich and brown
Bouquet of herbs (fresh bay, thyme, parsley)
4 slices European style bread, crusty and dense
200g gruyere cheese, grated
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper
Fresh chopped parsley, to garnish

Method
You will need a wide saucepan able to accommodate the onions. Over the lowest heat cook the onions, garlic, sugar, cumin and cumin for 1 hour. Stir from time to time.The onions should be golden brown, sweet and aromatic after this time.
Transfer the onion mix to a soup pot.
Deglaze the saucepan you used to cook the onions with the white wine and then pour into the soup pot also.
Add the stock and bouquet of herbs and simmer for 30minutes (or longer if you wish).
Turn the oven to 200c.
Place a slice of bread into 4 deep oven proof soup bowls. Place the soup bowls on a baking tray.
Season the onion soup and ladle over the pieces of bread.
Sprinkle over the cheese and bake until the cheese has melted and the top is golden brown.
Sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately.
Nothing else is needed with this soup, it is so delicious and satisfying. Serves 4.

Pumpkins and Soup

The cute and little pumpkins pictured here go by the name of Dumplings. I bought these, because I was seduced by their prettiness and small size (like me). They have a sweet nutty flavour and a texture which is more like a sweet potato than a pumpkin. The flesh of these pumpkins are a little too mild for soup, but they are divine when roasted with extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and black pepper.

I didn’t plan to write of pumpkin soup but this one was so lovely that I had to share the recipe. The caramelized onion, tomatoes and bacon make this soup special. Of course, if you are vegetarian you can leave out the bacon, but I think it does complete the dish.

The Laughing Cow cheese is there for a nostalgic fun, my mother would often add a spoonful of cream cheese to soups and stews when I was a little boy :)

Pumpkin and Tomato Soup

Ingredients
20g butter
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp sticky brown sugar
1 rosemary sprig
1.5 kilo cubed pumpkin (cleaned weight)
400g tin Italian tomatoes, chopped
Beef stock, to cover (cubes are fine)
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper
100g bacon, finely diced
Freshly grated Parmesan or Grana, to taste
Single portions of “Laughing Cow”, to serve

Method
Place the onion, rosemary, butter and olive oil into a soup pot. Turn the heat to the lowest setting and cook very gently for 30 minutes or until the onions are soft and caramelized. Discard the rosemary sprig.
Add the brown sugar and cook for 1 minute, watching the sugar does not burn.
Tumble in the pumpkin cubes and the tomatoes.
Add enough stock to barely cover and simmer for 30 minutes until the pumpkin is tender.
In the meantime, place the bacon with a few drops of olive oil into a small saucepan and over a low heat cook the bacon until brown and crispy. Drain the bacon on paper towels and discard the rendered fat in the saucepan.
Puree the soup using whatever gadget you possess. I like mine to have a bit of texture. Adjust the consistency with extra stock (if too thick).
When you are ready to eat, reheat the soup. Once the soup has boiled again, remove from the heat and season with the parmesan or grana, salt and pepper.
Serve the soup in deep bowls with a ½ cube of laughing cow cheese per serve and a sprinkling of crispy bacon.
You should get about 8 generous serves.