Cream of Onion Soup with Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

It finally turned a little cooler where I felt like I could make soup once again for dinner.  This recipe is actually from a Julia Child Cookbook.  A dear friend of mine gave me a 1966 edition of Mastering the Art of French Cooking and a 1970 edition of Volume Two - Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  If you can believe this, this is actually the first recipe I have made from either book.  This recipe came from Volume Two.  The soup is wonderful and eating it was a pure slice of heaven.

3 to 4 cups of sliced onions (I used 3 medium to large sized yellow onions)
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups hot water
2 cups chicken broth (I make my own, here is the recipe)
1/2 cup dry white wine (I used a Chardonnay)
1/3 cup white rice (not instant)
1 bay leaf
Salt and Pepper to taste (in the recipe it calls for white pepper, I prefer to use fresh ground pepper and don't mind if I see the pepper in my soup)

Cook onions in the butter until tender but not browned.  (I covered the pot while the onions were cooking which helped them to cook).  Add curry and cook 1 minute, then add flour and cook 2 minutes without browning.  Remove from heat, stir in the hot water, then add chicken broth and wine.  Bring to a simmer and sprinkle in the rice; add bay leaf, and season to taste.  Simmer 30 minutes then puree.  It didn't state in the recipe to remove the bay leaf before pureeing but I removed it.  I don't have an immersion blender so I had to ladle my soup into a blender, blend the soup and add it back into the pot.

2 to 3 cups of milk (I ended up using almost 3 cups)
1/2 cup of heavy cream
4 tablespoons soft butter
3 tablespoons minced parsley

Bring soup to a simmer.  Thin out to desired consistency with milk, stir in the cream, and carefully correct seasoning.  (I use a homemade broth that doesn't have any salt in it, if you use commercial broth be careful how much salt you use)  Reheat again to simmer just before serving; remove from heat and stir in the butter, then the parsley.

We also had grilled cheese sandwiches to go along with the soup.  Take bread and lightly butter the inside of the bread.  Add cheese  slices (we used cheddar and a smoked gouda).  Spread butter on the outside slice of bread and place buttered side down on a hot skillet, butter the other side.  Flip when ready and cook.

The meal was served with a 2008 Chateau Morrisette Chardonnay.

This post is linked on Sunday Night Soup Night - Easy Natural Food.