Double Onion Soup

This is two soups in one for an extra tasty onion soup. Don’t we all love a good onion soup? Imagine combining an onion cream with a french onion soup! The result is just exponentially delicious!

This soup is a merged of the classical French onion soup and an onion veloute (cream). It’s broth is made the onion cream way, which is basically a blended onion soup, then to keep the onion bites from the French version, I’ve added an extra 2 onions. It’s got a bite to it, although less onion pieces as the traditional French onion soup. Double the flavors but not the work, it’s important to clarify: it’s just an extra step (blend the soup) then the normal onion soup, so no extra work.

How the idea took form

I was feeling like an onion soup to warm me up on a cold winter day, and since I already had a traditional French onion soup on my blog, I’ve decided to make a variation of it. I’ve started by making an onion veloute and the result was alright… but I was missing the onion bite to it… So i’ve added 2 more onions to add a bite to the soup plus I’ve topped it with the always delicious gratin touch. The result is an unctuous onion cream with a bite to it served the french onion way; cheese!

There is also a Catalan twist to it for extra flavor, a “picada” in the end of cooking for an fresh extra seasonning. A picada is a light mix of aromatics and/or nuts with olive oil to finish up a meal with a fresh touch and when nuts are used, it thickens the sauces. It’s usually done in the mortar and added to dishes in the last minutes of cooking for a great final touch. It’s an optional extra step, done in no time, that makes a big difference in my opinion, especially for sauces and soups.

If you dislike the smell of onions in the house, simmer in a small pot of water with a cinnamon stick of lemon wedges to it, for a little while, it’s going to clean up that air. Also… a great idea to make with the leftovers from this soup is my onion soup pasta in a mug check it out here!

Let’s make this extra tasty soup!

Double Onion Soup

Makes about 6 portions | Cooking time: 1h15

Ingredients

• 8 yellow onions finely sliced (6 for the cream, and 2 as extra bite for the soup)
• 2 litres of chicken broth
• 200ml of red wine
• 30ml brandy
• 30g of salted butter
• 3 tbsp of flour or cornstarch
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 2 laurel leaves
• thyme to taste
• salt and pepper

Topping

• dry or toasted baguette/bread
• aged gouda or gruyere
• extra parsley minced

Picada *optional

• parsley finely chopped (20 leave)
• 1 garlic clove 
• salt

Directions

1. Add the the butter, the sliced onions and some salt to a big pot, at low heat and let the onion get slowly translucent (it takes about 30 minutes)
2. Once the onions are soft, translucent, take the equivalent of 2 onions out and reserve
3. Add the flour and let it cook for one more minute
4. Add the rest of the ingredients to the onions and let simmer at low heat another 15 minutes
5. Take out the laurel leaves
6. Blend with an immersion blender the soup until smooth
7. Add the extra reserved onion and adjust the seasonning and let simmer another 15 minutes
8. During that time, in a mortar or bowl, mash up the ingredient of the picada into a paste
9. Add the picada in the final minute of cooking
10. Add the soup to oven proof bowls, topped with the (dry) bread and cheese to taste and grill in the oven (max temperature) for about 8 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden
11. Sprinkle with extra chopped parsley

*if you have a left over try this onion noodles soup gratin!

Enjoy!