Sopa de Ceba — Print Recipe — The Culinary Codex

A deeply caramelized onion soup topped with crusty bread and a thick, bubbling cap of melted mountain cheese. This Andorran take on French onion soup is richer and more rustic, using local cheeses and mountain-baked bread.

Ingredients

6 large onions, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup dry white wine
1 liter beef broth
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 bay leaf
4 thick slices crusty bread, toasted
200g Gruyère or aged mountain cheese, grated
Salt and black pepper

Instructions

1 Melt the butter with olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add the sliced onions and a pinch of salt. Cook for 35-40 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until the onions are deeply caramelized to a dark mahogany color. Do not rush this step.
2 Add the minced garlic and cook for 1 minute. Pour in the white wine and stir, scraping up all the caramelized bits from the bottom. Let the wine reduce by half, about 3-4 minutes.
3 Add the beef broth, thyme, and bay leaf. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes to let the flavors meld. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the bay leaf.
4 Preheat the broiler to high. Ladle the hot soup into 4 oven-safe bowls placed on a sturdy baking sheet. Fill each bowl about three-quarters full.
5 Float a thick slice of toasted bread on top of each bowl of soup. The bread should cover most of the surface to create a base for the cheese.
6 Pile the grated cheese generously over each bread slice, letting it overflow onto the rim of the bowl. The cheese should be thick enough to form a substantial crust when melted.
7 Place the baking sheet under the broiler for 3-5 minutes, watching carefully, until the cheese is bubbling vigorously, golden brown, and slightly charred in spots. Serve immediately, warning diners that the bowls are extremely hot.

Did You Know?

Andorran ski resorts serve sopa de ceba as a post-skiing warmer, and on the busiest winter days, restaurants go through hundreds of kilograms of onions. The soup's warming properties are considered almost medicinal by locals.