Sunday, November 9, 2008

Soup Sunday - Onion & Barley Soup with Swiss Cheese Flans



I think I should change the title of my blog to Soup Sunday! Things have been so busy during the week and I have been traveling a lot, so Sunday has really been my only day to cook.

Today's soup is Onion & Barley Soup with Jarlsberg Flans. The original recipe can be found
here (Epicurious.com). I cut the recipe in half and used Jarlsberg Swiss; I think Gruyere would also work well.

My recipe, including the amounts I used, is noted below.

Ingredients

Soup (about 4 servings)

  • 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
  • 4 cups sliced onions
  • 1/4 cup pearl barley
  • 3 tablespoons dry Sherry
  • 5 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth
  • 2 pinches dried thyme
Flans (2)
  • 1/2 tablespoon butter
  • Handful sliced onions
  • 1/4 cup light cream
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • Added: 2 fresh sage leaves
  • Added: approx 1/4 tsp white pepper
  • Added: chopped chives, approximately 1 tsp
  • 1/2 cup (packed) grated Jarlsberg cheese
To Make the Soup -
  • Melt butter in heavy large pot over medium heat.
  • Add onions; sauté until caramelized, about 30 minutes.
  • Add barley and Sherry; cook 30 seconds.
  • Add chicken stock and thyme. Bring to boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Can be made up to one day in advance. Cool, cover, and chill. Bring to simmer before serving.
To Make the Flans -
  • Preheat oven to 300°F.
  • Place two 3/4-cup custard cups or soufflé dishes in baking pan.
  • Melt butter in heavy skillet over medium heat.
  • Add onions; sauté until tender but not brown, about 8 minutes. Add sage near the end of cooking the onions.
  • Cool slightly; transfer to blender.
  • Add cream, eggs, salt, and pepper; blend until smooth.
  • Stir in cheese.
  • Divide custard among prepared cups.

  • Fill pan with enough hot water to come halfway up sides of cups. Bake flans until centers are softly set, about 30 minutes.

  • Cool flans 10 minutes in pan. Cut around flans to loosen; turn out each in center of soup bowl. Ladle soup around flans and serve.


Another soup success! This was almost like a lighter French onion soup, but without the bread, and with the cheese in the form of the flan. Jon thinks beef broth would work as well, but it would be a heavier and richer soup. The presentation was beautiful - I would love to serve this soup at a dinner party.

The flan was delicious! I could have eaten it on its own. The changes I made - less onions, added sage, added white pepper, added chives -really worked and the result was a savory and creamy flan. This soup will be good for lunch tomorrow even without the flan as I only made 2 to try tonight.

Have a great week everyone!

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1 comment:

  1. Carmelized onions make the best base for a soup! I like this recipe a lot!

    ReplyDelete