23 December 2018

Soupe de légumes gratinée

I nearly forgot to finish my potée / potée soup series. Here's the last meal we had of the potée vegetables and meats transformed into soupe.


It had never occurred to me, I believe, to put bread and cheese on a soup like this one. Even though, for years one of my favorite soupes has been the classic bistrot or café specialty called soupe à l'oignon gratinée. I've posted many times about French Onion Soup on this blog — almost every winter going back as far as 2006 and as recently six or seven months ago. Why had I never thought of treating vegetable soup the same way?


Walt thinks this was his suggestion, and that wouldn't surprise me. The soupe I had made with veal, pork, winter vegetables and potée broth might be a good candidate for an onion-soup-style gratinée. What you do is heat up the soupe and pour it into oven-proof soup bowls. Float two or three thick slices of slightly dry (or toasted) French baguette on each bowl of soup, and then put on top of the bread a couple of handfuls of grated "Swiss" cheese like Comté, Emmental, Beaufort, Abondance, or Gruyère.


Set the cheese-covered bowls of soupe chaude in a hot, hot oven — remember, the soupe itself is already hot — and wait a few minutes for the cheese to melt and the golden gratin to form. Take burning-hot bowls out of the oven very carefully and serve them steaming hot at the table. Eat the soup-softened bread, melted cheese, diced vegetables and meat, and the clear potée broth with a large soup spoon. Don't burn your mouth!

10 comments:

  1. This is a brilliant idea. I make vegetable soup all the time and this would change it into a complete meal.
    Thank you.

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    1. Walt says he thinks the bread and cheese was his idea. He's probably right. We collaborate on things like this.

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  2. Great idea...looks really good.

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    1. Thanks for the good comment. It was really good...

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  3. Genius to do it this way. Soupe à l'oignon is probably my favorite. Comfort food, cold outside, warm inside.

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  4. That does look delicious, I love of bowl of soup and the au gratin top looks good, and as you said why limit yourself to just serving it on onion soup.

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