The messiest and most painful recipe so far (sunglasses a must unless you wear normal glasses!)
I cooked the soup in a large soup pot but if you don't have one of these just use a large saucepan. You may need to reduce the amount of onions to 4 though as I struggled to get the onions into my large pot as is was. I warmed the butter in the pot before adding the onions. They went translucent within 5 minutes but for some reason they didn't brown as they caramelised. I think that the amount of onions prevented this process and when I make this again I will fry the onions in batches before adding them to the large pot. A quick taste test, however, confirmed that they were caramelising; the harshness of the onions had been replaced by sweetness. I added chicken stock and let the soup simmer for 30 minutes as suggested in the recipe.
My house isn't particularly warm so I rested the dough at both stages in front of the fire which pleased my cat immensely!
I couldn't buy dried polenta so simply brushed the bread with the egg mixture twice as recommended. I can understand totally how baking bread sells houses - what a delicious smell!
Returning to the soup now, I needed to research making the beurre manier or manie as I didn't have a clue. The following website has easy to follow steps and mine looked exactly the same - a success.
http://frenchfood.about.com/od/frenchcookingtechniques/ss/beurremanie_4.htm
I added the beurre manier in small pieces whilst stirring constantly. As the link above suggested the butter melted evenly and prevented lumps of flour forming in the soup. I will definitely use the technique in future soups I make. I seasoned well with black pepper.
I broke off a chunk of bread and topped with generous amounts of grated gruyere cheese before grilling and serving in these pretty le creuset dishes.
Bon appétit!
I cooked the soup in a large soup pot but if you don't have one of these just use a large saucepan. You may need to reduce the amount of onions to 4 though as I struggled to get the onions into my large pot as is was. I warmed the butter in the pot before adding the onions. They went translucent within 5 minutes but for some reason they didn't brown as they caramelised. I think that the amount of onions prevented this process and when I make this again I will fry the onions in batches before adding them to the large pot. A quick taste test, however, confirmed that they were caramelising; the harshness of the onions had been replaced by sweetness. I added chicken stock and let the soup simmer for 30 minutes as suggested in the recipe. 
While the soup was simmering I began making the bread. This was my first time making bread and I have to say that I was a bit nervous about it. I followed the instructions exactly and was pleasantly surprised by the way the dough transformed as I kneaded it. I worked on the dining table as it is much lower than my kitchen work surface and this meant that I could put more of my weight into the kneading process which made it much easier.
My house isn't particularly warm so I rested the dough at both stages in front of the fire which pleased my cat immensely!
Returning to the soup now, I needed to research making the beurre manier or manie as I didn't have a clue. The following website has easy to follow steps and mine looked exactly the same - a success.
http://frenchfood.about.com/od/frenchcookingtechniques/ss/beurremanie_4.htm
I added the beurre manier in small pieces whilst stirring constantly. As the link above suggested the butter melted evenly and prevented lumps of flour forming in the soup. I will definitely use the technique in future soups I make. I seasoned well with black pepper.I broke off a chunk of bread and topped with generous amounts of grated gruyere cheese before grilling and serving in these pretty le creuset dishes.
Bon appétit!
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