Hearty 'French Onion' Meat Soup

Hearty 'French Onion' Meat Soup
Eatloveplaywithfood.blogspot.com

Julia Child would be horrified with what I did with her classic recipe of French Onion Soup in Mastering The Art Of French Cooking.  

My efforts started out rather classical, but I felt more like a thick and hearty, tummy warming soup with some meat, risotto a few other things along with the onions, which made 'classical' go pear-shaped from there.




In order to cut down on the cooking time by almost 2 hours and still to get the onions to develop a deep, rich flavour, I added a tablespoon of sugar allowing them to caramelise.  The more traditional way would be to cook the onions slow firstly in butter and oil and then on a slow simmer in some stock. Sorry, didn't do this one either ... definitely pear-shaped!

I have used Shiitake mushrooms, cause I love them, but you can really use any flavoursome mushroom you like - that does not include a button mushroom which really offers little flavour all the way round!

RECIPE 
This is suitable for 4 - 6-foodie lovers  

Olive oil
2 medium onions, cut into 8 wedges
1/2 cup shallots, small dice
2 tsp fresh ginger, medium dice
4 cloves garlic, small dice
1 Tbsp flour
2 cups Shiitake/Chestnut mushrooms, large dice
1 tsp brown sugar
500g sirloin steak, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
6 cups water
3/4 cup uncooked risotto
1/4 cup sherry
3 tbsp soy sauce
300ml beef stock
1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce

Heat a generous glug of oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat
Add onions, shallots, ginger, garlic and flour and sauté for 10 min on medium
Add mushrooms, sugar and beef and sauté on high for 7 min
Add water, risotto, sherry, soy sauce and stock and bring to the boil
Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 50 min until meat is tender and liquid is thick
Stir in worcestershire sauce at the end and serve