Honeymoon French Onion Soup

1/3 cup vegetable oil

6 cups thinly sliced onions

(onion of choice, yellow, white, Bermuda, or Walla Walla)

1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp pepper

6 cups beef broth

8 slices French bread (cut thick and toasted)

butter

garlic salt

1/2-1 cup Swiss cheese

In a Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and saute until tender, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle sugar over onions. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring frequently until onions are caramelized, about 20 minutes. Add broth and pepper. Cover and simmer 30 minutes. Meanwhile, spread butter on top of bread. Place bread on cookie sheet, sprinkle with garlic salt. Broil bread, with oven door ajar so as to watch that the bread only gets toasted, not burnt. Flip bread over and toast other side without the butter and garlic salt.

Ladle soup into individual “oven proof” soup bowls. Place a piece of bread, garlic butter side up, on top of the soup and sprinkle with cheese. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve immediately.

Yields 4-8 servings, depending on size of bowls.

Enjoy! Élvez! Piacere! Gustirati! Radosť!

You ask “Why honeymoon soup?”

Well, because Duke and I had a bowl of this amazing soup to start each dinner when we were on our honeymoon in Acapulco. For that reason, we refer to it as “Our Honeymoon Soup”---------Oh, the beautiful memories!

Caraway Soup (Sick Soup) Kimmel Leves

8 cups water
4 Tbsp caraway seeds
1/4 Cup butter
1/4 Cup flour
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 1/2 tsp onion powder

Bring the 8 cups water and the caraway seeds to a boil. When boiling, reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer with the lid on the pot for 20 minutes. Turn off the burner and allow the seeds to steep in the water at least an hour. (However, you can let it sit longer for added flavor...up to two hours.)

While the broth is steeping you can make the spaetzle.  Make the spaetzle according to directions and set aside.

When ready to serve up the soup, you make the roux. First, strain seeds out of the broth and turn onto medium heat. Now onto the roux.

Roux:

Melt butter in small saucepan. Add flour, salt, pepper and onion powder. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until golden brown. After the roux is golden add 4 or 5 ladles of broth to the roux, and cook until the roux is incorporated and thickened.

Now pour all of the roux into the pot of caraway broth. 
Heat broth to boiling add the spaetzle noodles that have been prepared. 

ENJOY!

This soup is a recipe from my grandmother Chick (Csik). It is an old Hungarian recipe that was handed down to my mother. I know my mother would make this for any reason and not just because someone was sick. We just enjoyed the unique taste. When serving this to someone that is not “up to par” or “feeling under the weather,” first serve them just the broth.

As the day goes on and they start feeling better, add a little spaetzle at a time until they start to feel better. They will usually start asking for more spaetzle rather than the broth (That’s when you know they are feeling better, and their appetite is returning).


Enjoy! Élvez! Piacere! Gustirati! Radosť!