SW: Caramelized Shallot Soup (Guest Post!)

Friends, Audrey here. The post that is about to follow is full of silliness AND tasty soup. (Perhaps my new favorite kind of post?) Unfortunately, I cannot take credit for the tasty soup OR the silliness. My friend D is today's guest blogger, and you can find more of his work at Twenty-Fingered Cooking, where he blogs with his lovely wife K. You can also find a copy of his Chicken Tortilla Soup, which is one of my absolute faves. And be sure to check out D&K's recipe from last year's SW!


Caramelized Shallot Soup (or How Captain Soup-Man Saved the Day!)

So, uh, I made this soup about two months ago and have been patiently awaiting Soup Week so that I could share it all with you. I totally just didn’t forget to write about it for two months and then “conveniently” remember when Audrey started posting her Soup Week things. Nope. Not me.

I’ve always loved French Onion Soup – mmm, delicious cheese, crunchy-soft croutons, and yummy beef broth and other liquidy things¹. It’s like a little drink of heaven. So when we found a recipe for Caramelized Shallot Soup in one of Martha Stewart’s magazines, I decided to temporarily set aside my disdain for all things Martha and give it a slurp².

So as anybody knows, to make a good French Onion soup, you absolutely must use the best Gruyère cheese you can find. Fortunately for me, there is an exquisite cheese store with a very opinionated cheesemonger³ less than a mile from my house! So when I realized halfway through the making of this recipe that our fridge did not currently possess any Gruyère cheese, I put on my awesome superhero cape⁴ and dashed out the door, shouting to my beautiful wife K, “Hold down the fort and stir all the soup, honey! I’m off to get CHEEEESE!”

When I arrived at the cheese store, I walked confidently in with my spandex and cape, and had the following conversation with the cheesemonger:

Me⁵: “I’d like about 4 ounces of Gruyère, please.”
Cheesemonger⁵: “What are you going to do with that… cheese?”
Me⁵: “I’m making a carmelized shallot soup. It’s sort of like French onion soup, except with shallots in place of the onions.”
Cheesemonger⁵: “Oooh la la! That sounds amazing! I can just picture it now. The shallots will give it such a different flavor than the onions! More garlicky. And it’s the perfect day for it. And the beef broth… you are using beef broth, aren’t you?”
Me⁶: “Of course, evil cheesemonger! What kind of fowl chef² do you think I am? A chicken-broth user?”
Cheesemonger⁶ (cowering): “No! Never! I never said that! Please, just take your cheese and go!”
Me⁶: “I thought so. Thanks for the cheese, cheesemonger. Until next time.”
Cheesemonger⁶: “I’ll be ready, soup-man. MUA-HA-HA-HAAA.”

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Footnotes:
1. So far everything in this post has been a fabrication. I’m not sure if the trend will continue, but odds are not good.
2. Lousy pun not intended (see footnote 1)
3. I always feel like I should follow up cheesemonger with an evil laugh. A sort of “MUA-HA-HA-HAAA!” kind of thing. I can totally picture the next Pixar movie about an evil cheesemonger villain who’s going to take all the world’s cheese and, I dunno, build a rocket to the moon with it or something. Actually, wait. Has that idea been taken yet? Can I patent it?
4. I may not actually own a superhero cape. But really? What kind of story would it be without details like that?
5. Actual line of dialog
6. Not actual line of dialog

Then I dashed home with my Gruyère to save the day and make the soup!

Ingredients

• 5 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1.5 pounds shallots, sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1.5 tsp coarse sea salt, and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1 small red onion
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 cups beef broth
• 4 cups chicken broth
• More olive oil
• 1 day-old French baguette, cut into cubes
• more pepper
• 6 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated

(Note that I slightly modified this recipe, because shallots are a pain in the butt to peel, and 2.5 pounds of shallots is a lot of shallots. So I substituted a bit of red onion. Whatevs. Also, the original recipe used chestnuts instead of croutons, but I couldn’t find any at the store, and croutons are fun to make!)

The Cooking and the Assembly

1. Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add shallots and salt, and sauté, stirring occasionally until tender and caramelized (25-30 minutes).
2. Add the wine and cook until it evaporates.
3. Add the bay leaf, beef broth, and chicken broth, and bring to a boil Reduce heat and simmer until soup is reduced by a third, another 25-30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Meanwhile, heat 2-3 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high; when hot, add in the cubed French bread, making sure to get each coated thoroughly with oil (add more oil if necessary). Sprinkle a generous helping of pepper on them.
5. Continue stirring croutons until crispy (keep a weather eye on them so they don’t burn, though!); remove from heat and transfer to a bowl. Mix croutons and Gruyère, and let cool.
6. When soup is ready, ladle into bowls, and add several croutons. Grate some more cheese over the top, and serve.

And so ends my saga. You can thank me once you’ve passed out on your sofa in contentment. Mua-ha-ha-haaa.

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There you have it, ladies and gents. Perhaps this is the new mascot for Soup Week?