French Onion Soup – Kids In The Kitchen

This week my home schooled kids are learning about France, because we’re heading off to Disneyland Paris in a few weeks. They don’t know this though – they think we’re going to Paris to learn about ‘old stuff’. We will spend a day in Paris too though, just to make sure their learning wasn’t for nothing.

One of the things you learn when learning about France, beyond capital city and population size, is food, and since we have very little by way of groceries at the moment (someone left the car door open, leaving the light on over night and us with a flat battery today. RAC finally reached us well after bed time tonight, so grocery shopping tomorrow!) I was quite literally faced with four onions, two day old bread and some cheese to come up with a dinner idea… you can see where I’m going with this, I’m sure.

One of the books we’re using for our studies at the moment is called France: Food and Celebrations* by Sylvia Goulding, with a bunch of recipes for kids to make, so while I could do this with so much more ease in the Thermomix® in 15 minutes, I still feel it’s really important for my kids to learn to cook traditionally first, so that they can understand the basics of cooking – and from there the sky is the limit.

For this French Onion Soup, I didn’t add the traditional Gruyere, so the kids’ just had a strong cheddar on theirs. I added some Chaource to mine. Chaource is a French cheese, originally manufactured in the village of Chaource in the Champagne-Ardenne region. Chaource is a cow’s milk cheese, cylindrical in shape at around 10 cm in diameter and 6 cm in height. It has a soft inside, like an already baked Camembert, and has a beautiful very mild blue cheesy tang to it. It’s really lush, a very unknown cheese in the UK and easily available from Tesco and just works in this soup. (Sorry French traditionalists!)

I had my 5 year old slice the onions (we use this ‘safe’ Pampered Chef slicer) and then stir them on the stove till they were translucent. Meanwhile my 3 year old layered bread and grated cheese in soup dishes. I poured the water in to make the soup, transferred everything to the grill and removed it from there again.

I should add here that this is probably a meal for two, but for one adult and two children it’s ample. Considering you’re eating a slice of bread and an onion with some cheese, it’s incredibly filling, and very rich.

French Onion Soup - Kids In The Kitchen

 

Print

Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

20 mins

 

The original recipe calls for duck or goose fat. I used regular salted butter.

Author: Recipe adapted from France: Food And Celebrations

Serves: 3 soups

Ingredients

• 2 large or 4 small brown onions
• large dollop butter (20g)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1.5 litres beef stock (reduce to1000g if using TM31 Thermomix® and cook without MC)
• 4 - 8 slices day old bread
• 100g shredded cheddar cheese
• 100g other cheese (for kids I leave this one out and use just cheddar as that's rich enough for them) Gruyere or Chaource
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Regular Recipe

1. Peel and thinly slice onions.
2. Add butter and onion to a pan and sauté till they are translucent and beginning to brown, about 5 - 8 minutes.
3. Add stock and simmer for 25 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, grate the cheese, and layer cheese and bread in an oven proof soup bowl (Individual bowls are better than one serving dish) Start with a thin layer of cheese, top with bread, another layer of cheese, and end with a layer of bread, reserving some cheese for later.
5. When the soup is cooked, spoon onion and soup into soup bowls and top with remaining cheese.
6. Place under grill for 5 - 10 minutes, keeping an eye on it till the cheese is browned. The dishes will be hot, so transfer carefully to a counter.

For the Thermomix®

1. Add one or both cheeses to the Thermomix® (drop over running blades) speed 5, 10 - 15 seconds.
2. Clean the bowl and set the cheese aside.
3. Add the onions and butter to the Thermomix® and blend 10 seconds speed 4.
4. Sauté for 8 mins/100C/spoon speed. (If you can, do this on the stove, I do prefer the flavour)
5. Add the stock (remember to keep to the limits in the Thermomix®, so 2000g for TM31)
6. Cook reverse speed, Varoma/15 mins, without the MC
7. Meanwhile in the soup dishes, start with a thin layer of cheese, top with bread, another layer of cheese, and end with a layer of bread, reserving some cheese for later.
8. When the soup is cooked, spoon onion and soup into soup bowls and top with remaining cheese.
9. Place under grill for 5 - 10 minutes, keeping an eye on it till the cheese is browned. The dishes will be hot, so transfer carefully to a counter.
10. Enjoy

3.5.3226