French Onion Soup with Homemade Beef Stock
"While making the beef stock from scratch is time consuming, it really makes for a fabulous soup! Of course you can always buy beef stock too (if you are in a bit of a hurry)! This serves 4 as a main course with crunchy French bread and a simple side salad (try mixing tender butter lettuce, sweet green and red leaf lettuce, some crunchy iceberg, confettied light green cabbage and grated carrot with candied pecans and a light balsamic or Italian dressing)."
Estimated Nutrition (whole recipe, rough)
Counts 17 of 19 ingredients — the other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and contribute nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume — 17 portions →
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Beef | 100g cooked | 250 |
| Olive Oil | 1 tbsp (14g) | 119 |
| Gruyere Cheese | 1 oz (28g) cheddar | 113 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Parsnip | 1/2 cup (78g) | 55 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Carrot | 1 medium (61g) | 25 |
| Wine | 2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml) | 25 |
| Celery | 1 stalk (40g) | 6 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Thyme | 1 tsp dried (1.4g) | 4 |
| Garlic | 1 clove (3g) | 4 |
| Bay Leaf | 1 leaf (0.6g) | 2 |
| Parsley | 1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g) | 1 |
| Basil | 5 leaves fresh (2.5g) | 1 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
| Sauce | not in our table | 0 |
Totals for the whole recipe, adding one typical portion per ingredient — listed above. Quantities in the recipe are not counted, so this is a rough guide only — not suitable for medical or dietary planning.
Ingredients
- 12 cups water
- 1 pound beef short ribs
- 3 parsnips, peeled and cubed
- 3 onions, coarsely chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
- 2 stalks celery with leaves, coarsely chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
- 1/4 cup butter
- 4 large onions, thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed
- 1/4 cup flour, or more as needed
- 1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme, or to taste
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 2 tablespoons dry sherry
- 1 dash hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco®), or to taste
- 4 thick slices French bread
- basil and garlic-flavored olive oil for brushing
- 2 cups grated Gruyere cheese
- 1 pinch sea salt to taste