Making That French Onion Soup Rice Thing
So, I had this idea kicking around in my head, you know? Rice is good. French onion soup is really good. Why not smash ’em together? Seemed straightforward enough, maybe a bit weird, but hey, gotta try stuff.
First thing, onions. Grabbed a whole bag of yellow onions, probably like five or six big ones. Spent a good while slicing them up. Yeah, my eyes were watering like crazy, always happens. Just gotta power through it. Sliced ’em pretty thin, figured that’d help them cook down better.
Then, the pan. Got out my big heavy pot, tossed in a chunk of butter, let it melt down. Dumped all those onions in there. It looked like way too much onion, piled high. But I know how this goes. Low heat, that’s the key. Low and slow.
This part takes forever. Seriously, you just gotta stir them now and then, make sure they don’t stick and burn. Watched them go from sharp white to soft and translucent, then slowly, slowly, start getting golden, then brown, then that deep dark caramel color. Took maybe 45 minutes? An hour? Lost track, just kept an eye on ’em. The whole kitchen started smelling amazing, though. That sweet, deep onion smell.
While the onions were doing their thing, I started the rice. Just plain white rice, nothing fancy. Used my trusty rice cooker. Measured out the rice, rinsed it a couple of times, added the water, flicked the switch. Easy peasy. Let the machine handle that part.
Back to the onions. Once they looked properly dark and jammy, I deglazed the pan. Splashed in some beef broth. Scraped up all those tasty brown bits stuck to the bottom. Added more broth, some thyme sprigs I had lying around, salt, pepper. Let that simmer for a bit, maybe 15-20 minutes, just to let the flavors all meld together.
Okay, rice cooker beeped. Rice was done. Fluffed it up with a fork.
Now, the moment of truth. How to combine? I decided to just ladle that soupy onion mixture right over a big scoop of the fluffy rice in a bowl. Some folks might mix it all together, maybe bake it with cheese? Nah, kept it simple this time. Just spooned the rich, brothy onions right on top.
And that was it. Sat down and ate it. It was… interesting. Definitely comforting. The savory, sweet onions and the rich broth soaked into the plain rice. Pretty good, actually. Not exactly traditional, but it worked. Felt like a warm hug in a bowl. Definitely gonna make this again when it’s cold out.
