Food - Drink
The Flavorful Vegetable Ina Garten Adds To French Onion Soup
By SANDY BAKER
Ina Garten, noted for her proper cooking methods that pay homage to tradition, offers an exceptional French onion soup recipe that uses Spanish onions, beef broth, bay leaves, and Sauvignon Blanc to create a savory, deeply flavored soup. It already sounds fantastic, but she adds another ingredient that changes the game.
According to her cookbook, "Barefoot Contessa: How Easy Is That?" Garten also adds two pounds of fennel, with the cores and tops removed, to her French onion soup recipe. The fennel is added after the boil; the butter is warmed, and then she lets the fennel cook down with the onions for 30 to 40 minutes on medium heat.
Fennel has a mild anise or licorice flavor, creating a different, subtle sweetness when cooked, and complements the onion well. When sliced and cooked over a longer period, fennel has a much milder flavor than adding fennel seed to recipes, and when you’re done cooking, you can also use the fronds as a garnish if you like.