Here is a little recipe that I created borrowing inspiration from Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions and Julia Child - the expert on French cooking herself.
Homemade Bone Stock
Ingredients:
About 4 lbs. of beef bones with marrow (I got mine from my local farmers market but a butcher should have them as well)
4 or more quarts cold filtered water
1/2 cup vinegar
3 onions, coarsely chopped
3 carrots, coarsely chopped
3 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
Place the beef bones in a very large pot with vinegar and cover with water. Let stand for one hour to ferment. Add the vegetables and bring to a boil. Add additional water if necessary, to cover the bones.
Simmer stock for 72 hours.
I left my pot on the stove over low heat for 3 days - stirring occasionally.
Remove bones with tongs. Strain the stock into a large bowl. Let cool in the refrigerator and remove the congealed fat that rises to the top.
French Onion Soup
Ingredients:
2 Tbs butter
5 cups of onions, peeled and thinly sliced
1 baguette
Approx. 4 cups of raw milk, cave aged Gruyere cheese (I bought mine at Whole Foods)
Melt the butter in a 3-4 quart saucepan and add onions and a pinch of salt to taste. Set the heat to medium-low, cover the pan and cook onions for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the onions are tender, uncover and slightly raise the heat. Cook for another 20 minutes =, stirring frequently until onions are dark brown.
Stir in about 5 cups of your bone broth and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Toast about a dozen or so baguette slices on a baking sheet in the oven at 400 degrees until crisp.
When the soup is ready you can place small crocks or bowls on a baking sheet. Put a couple slices of baguette into each and sprinkle some of the Gruyere on top. Ladle in your soup and then cover with a heavy helping of cheese.
Place the bowls in the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the cheese is brown and has a crust on top.
Serve and enjoy.
This soup is even better than any French Onion soup I've had out in NYC. I am back to being an addict. And the good news is that you should have a lot of bone broth left over that you can freeze and save for the next time. The bone broth is the time consuming part, the onion soup itself is pretty simple and oh so tasty!
