french cuisine | candies & crunches

If you have been doing the Spartan ‘30 burpees for 30 days’ challenge over the past 24 days, it’s impossible to think of anything that would make you WANT to cry more than a burpee. Right?

Little that I knew, it’s an onion that actually MAKES you cry like a BABY! I know! I was floored myself when I realized this, but let me start from the very beginning.

Let’s have a little geography lesson. Canada is that huge country right over the United States of America. We don’t live in igloos nor do we have snow everywhere all year long. *I can’t believe some people still think that!* The only thing that is probably true is that everything (labels, official letters etc.) must be written in both English and French. La seule chose qui est probablement vrai est que touts (étiquettes, lettres officielles, etc.) doivent être écrite en anglais et en français. Okay, stop, it’s annoying! Ok, arrêtes, ça m’énerve! Sh*t. Merde. Anyhow, you get the gist of it, EH?!! Haha!

Montreal, the beautiful city I live in, is located in the province of Quebec. It is a very multicultural city, and I love it. Why? Because it means that you have lots of friends with different cultural backgrounds. And, let me tell you, it’s a heaven when it comes to trying out different kinds of food! YUMM!

Anyhow, last weekend, I felt like paying a little tribute to my province and figured I’d make a French Onion Soup (recipe found on http://www.allrecipes.com), which I’d heard a lot about, but never actually tried.

I mean, I knew that the preparation involved slicing SOME onion (duh!), but I had NO freaking *Sorry! It was really painfull* idea how much of it! So yes, I was crying like a baby while slicing 4 LARGE onions, and let me specify, in THIN slices! It didn’t help that my husband kept on making fun of me either! What an experience!

The soup was a huge success: It was so delicious *my husbands is still raving about it*! And I finally got a chance to use some cute bowls that we got as a gift last Christmas! *BONUS*

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt *don’t skip, it’s important for proper caramelization of onions*
2 large red onions, thinly sliced
2 large yellow sweet onions, thinly sliced
1.8 liters water
3 chicken broth cubes
1 beef broth cube
½ cup red wine
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 sprigs fresh parsley
1 sprig fresh thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 thick slices of French or Italian bread
8 slices of Swiss cheese, room temperature
½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese, room temperature
4 pinches paprika

Directions:

Melt butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Stir in salt, red and yellow sweet onions. Cook for 30-35 minutes, stirring frequently, until onions are caramelized and almost syrupy.
Mix water, chicken and beef broth cubes, Worcestershire sauce and red wine into the pot. Bundle the parsley, thyme, and bay leaves with s twine and place in pot.
Simmer over medium hit for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove and discard the herbs. Reduce the heat to low, mix in vinegar and season with pepper (and salt if needed).
Meanwhile, preheat oven broiler. Arrange bread slices on a baking sheet and broil 2-3 minutes, turning once, until well toasted on both sides. Remove heat, but don’t turn off the broiler.
Arrange 4 large oven proof bowls or crocks on a rimmed baking sheet. Fill each bowl with 2/3 full with hot soup. Top each bowl with 1 slice of toasted bread, 2 slices of Swiss cheese and ¼ of mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle a pinch of paprika over the top of each bowl.
Broil for about 5 minutes *maybe less if you place it at the top* until bubbly and golden brown. As it softens, the cheese will cascade over the sides of the crock and form a beautifully melted crusty seal. Serve immediately!