Of all the soups in all of the lands, no soup is more soup-er than French onion soup, especially when you have to break your way through a bubbling gruyere crust to get to it. Finding an authentic French onion soup, complete with sizzling, cheesy gratin was high on my list of priorities when I arrived in France. On Saturday it was my anniversary and Henry, who of course knew the way to my heart is food so took me out for dinner on Ile St Louis; the lovely islet tucked away behind the Notre Dame. It's such a magical place at night.
Prix Fixe menus let you explore French Cuisine on a budget, it's a 'the more you eat, the less you pay,' policy. In England we call it Pizza Hut buffet. In this part of Paris you can tell all the food will be of be an equal standard, with restaurants catering to please tourists like myself in search of everything from onion soup to snails, so its fair to judge a book by its cover and choose the restaurant with the best table cloth!
I started with a terrine of French onion soup. It was rich and sweet and the blanket of chewy, crispy croutons smothered in molten gruyere, was just what I had been searching for! Henry had baked camembert with a balsamic glaze and salad. For my mains I had roast duck with a sweet, smokey glaze served with a fluffy hybrid of mashed potato and a rosti.
Next weekend I'm going to perfect my recipe for French onion soup and gruyere gratin so keep your onions peeled.
