Onion Soup With Bacon

French onion became almost a cliché during the bistro days of the Sixties, and I have given a recipe for it elsewhere. This, however, is the real thing and takes a bit more time to prepare. Trust me when I say it’s worth the effort.

The most important ingredient here is the stale bread. Few of us have that lying around these days, so I suggest that you either leave some slices out overnight, or dry them in the oven.

You need:

125g fat bacon cut into small pieces
6 onions, halved and cut into thin slices 750mls water
15 or so thin slices of stale bread
Parmesan cheese, grated as needed
Thick cream – 1 carton
Salt & pepper

In a skillet, cook the bacon very gently so that it throws most of its fat, then remove it from the pan and put to one side.

Cook the onion slices in the bacon fat very gently, until they are reduced almost to a puree; then season them and add the water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile put a layer of bread in an oven-proof casserole, grate some cheese over it, add a spoonful of cream and some of the bacon. Repeat this layering until your bread is used up or the casserole is half full.

Check the seasoning of your onion stock, then pour it over the bread and pop the whole thing into a hot oven for about 5 minutes.

That’s it, all done. Serves 4-6.

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