French Onion Soup with Stilton Croutons

French Onion Soup

Yummy French Onion Soup with a Stilton Crouton

Well it maybe May but the weather is more reminiscent of February and I need comfort food to warm me up and have a yearning for French Onion Soup.  I made this this morning and it smelled so good I didn’t make it to lunch time and had it for a mid-morning snack.  I feel much happier with the World now though!

The ingredient that I use that doesn’t seem to be all that widely used in any of the recipe books is Marmite.  I wonder if it’s a Kent thing as I know both my grandmothers used it in their recipes as did the mothers of various friends when I was growing up.  You could use Bovril if you don’t need this to be vegetarian.  Without the crouton this might even be me nodding my head to a vegan dish with the Marmite though!

Whilst Kent may be the garden of England, it’s not really super well known for its culinary heritage unless you are heading off to Whitstable for some oysters and lobster, and let’s face it, why not?  I did recently discover that one dish I had always assumed was a national staple for puddings for school children is actually a Kent speciality and that is Gypsy Tart.  Sitting in a pub where they had it on the menu, the Londoners on the next table were intrigued to know what it was and on coming home and spending some Google time on the matter I discovered it’s not really all that well known outside these parts.  A recipe for another day perhaps when I feel in the need for a serious sugar hit!

This recipe makes enough for 2 lunchtime sized mugs of soup or one greedy fatty portion……which is me today!

Ingredients:

For the soup:

1 large onion, very finely sliced (I used a mandolin)

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Splash of Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons Marmite

500 ml boiling water

150ml red wine or Vermouth

For the crouton:

1 tablespoon olive oil

25g butter

2 thick slices of bread

35g stilton

 

Method:

1.  Fry the onion slowly in the oil over a very gentle heat for about ten minutes until really tender and translucent, then increase the heat and let the onions brown for 2 – 3 minutes, depending on the ferocity of your hob.   You want a good golden brown across the board with one or two darker bits round the edges.

2.  Add the chopped garlic and let that soften for a minute.

3.  Add the rest of the soup ingredients, bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for a further 20 minutes.

4.  Five minutes before the soup will be done, using a large cookie cutter (one that just fits inside the mouth of the mug you will serve the soup in) cut a circle of bread from each slice.

5.  Melt the butter in the olive oil and then fry the circles of bread until golden on both sides (ok so this isn’t a wholly health food recipe).  Divide the stilton between the two croutons and then pop both under a hot grill until the cheese has melted and is bubbling.

6.  Serve the French onion soup in a mug with the crouton floating on top.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.