Few dishes are more Beaujolais-friendly than French onion soup, which is one of my favorite dishes, perfect in cold weather for lunch, dinner, or at midnight. It makes a wonderful meal accompanied by butter lettuce salad with mustardy dressing, sprinkled with chopped chives. Be sure to brown the onions for the soup carefully, and make a good beef stock. If you happen to have duck fat lying about, sauté the onions in that instead of butter and oil. Life will never be the same. 

SOUPE À L’OIGNON GRATINÉE

2 pounds yellow onions, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon grape seed oil
1 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 quarts beef stock
1 bay leaf
Sea salt

Melt butter with grape seed oil in a heavy-bottomed pan. Add sliced onions and stir to coat. Cook over moderate heat for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent and soft. Sprinkle with sugar. Lower heat and cook for 30 minutes. As crust forms on bottom of pan, scrape crust back into onions with a wooden spoon. Repeat each time a crust forms. Continue until onions are an even, deep golden brown. Do not turn up the heat. Take care with this step and go slowly so onions don’t burn. When browned, sprinkle onions with flour and cook for two minutes, stirring continuously. Pour two cups of beef stock into onions and stir well to absorb flour. Add remaining broth, bay leaf, and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Remove bay leaf. Adjust seasoning with sea salt.

Assembling the soup: 

Warm onion soup
1 onion, peeled, cut in half
4 teaspoons Armagnac
½ cup young Beaujolais
8–10 pieces country-style bread, cut 1 inch thick, crust trimmed, lightly toasted
4 ounces grated Gruyère or Cantal cheese plus
2 ounces grated Parmigiano
2 ounces unsalted butter
8–10 thin slices of Gruyère or Cantal cheese
8 ceramic soup bowls or terrines

Ladle soup into bowls to ¾ full. Grate a tablespoon of onion into each bowl. Add ½ teaspoon Armagnac and 1 tablespoon red wine. Cut toasted bread to fit bowl and place on top. Sprinkle grated cheese on bread and dot with butter. Lay slices of Gruyère over top to form a cap covering soup. Bake in 425ºF oven for 18–20 minutes until cheese forms gratinéed crust. Serve on napkin-lined plates.

Serves 8

Christopher Lee is a former head chef of Chez Panisse and Eccolo in Berkeley and co-founder of the Pop-Up General Store in Oakland, California. Visit his website here.