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Bread and Onion Soup

Reprinted from Essential Pepin: More Than 700 All-Time Favorites from My Life in Food by Jacques Pepin

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 30 min

Total time: 45 min

Yield: 4 servings

When I have no vegetables on hand, I make this soup, which requires only onions and leftover bread. Grated Gruyère, one of my mother’s favorite additions to the soup, is a great flavor enhancer.

Categories:
  • Comfort Food
  • Soups/Stews/Curry
  • Winter
Print
Ingredients
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 4-5 slices leftover bread, cut into ½-inch cubes (2-2½ cups)
  • 1½ tablespoons peanut oil
  • 2 medium onions, thinly sliced (about 3 cups)
  • 5 cups homemade chicken stock or low-salt canned chicken broth
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 cup grated Gruy ère or Emmenthaler cheese
  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh chives
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Instructions
  • 1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
  • 2. Spread the bread cubes on a cookie sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown. Set aside.
  • 3. Heat the oil in a large saucepan until hot. Add the onions and cook over high heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until nicely browned.
  • 4. Add the stock, salt, and pepper and bring to a strong boil.
  • 5. Meanwhile, drop the baked bread cubes into a large soup tureen and sprinkle the cheese on top.
  • 6. Pour the boiling stock and onion mixture into the soup tureen and mix well. Ladle into soup plates, sprinkle the chives on top, and serve immediately.
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About The Show

Lynne Rossetto Kasper, Host

In 1994, acclaimed food writer and cooking teacher Lynne Rossetto Kasper was receiving accolades for her debut book, The Splendid Table, which at that time was the only book to have won both the James Beard and Julia Child Cookbook of the Year awards. Among the many people enchanted by the book was producer and foodie Sally Swift, who thought the time could be right for a radio program on food.

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