Soup Sunday - Onion & Barley Soup with Swiss Cheese Flans

I think I should change the title of my blog to Soup Sunday! Things have been so busy during the week and I have been traveling a lot, so Sunday has really been my only day to cook.

Today's soup is Onion & Barley Soup with Jarlsberg Flans. The original recipe can be found here (Epicurious.com). I cut the recipe in half and used Jarlsberg Swiss; I think Gruyere would also work well.

My recipe, including the amounts I used, is noted below.

Ingredients

Soup (about 4 servings)

• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
• 4 cups sliced onions
• 1/4 cup pearl barley
• 3 tablespoons dry Sherry
• 5 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth
• 2 pinches dried thyme

Flans (2)

• 1/2 tablespoon butter
• Handful sliced onions
• 1/4 cup light cream
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• Added: 2 fresh sage leaves
• Added: approx 1/4 tsp white pepper
• Added: chopped chives, approximately 1 tsp
• 1/2 cup (packed) grated Jarlsberg cheese
  

To Make the Soup -

• Melt butter in heavy large pot over medium heat.
• Add onions; sauté until caramelized, about 30 minutes.
• Add barley and Sherry; cook 30 seconds.
• Add chicken stock and thyme. Bring to boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
• Can be made up to one day in advance. Cool, cover, and chill. Bring to simmer before serving.

To Make the Flans -

• Preheat oven to 300°F.
• Place two 3/4-cup custard cups or soufflé dishes in baking pan.
• Melt butter in heavy skillet over medium heat.
• Add onions; sauté until tender but not brown, about 8 minutes. Add sage near the end of cooking the onions.
• Cool slightly; transfer to blender.
• Add cream, eggs, salt, and pepper; blend until smooth.
• Stir in cheese.
• Divide custard among prepared cups.

• Fill pan with enough hot water to come halfway up sides of cups. Bake flans until centers are softly set, about 30 minutes.

• Cool flans 10 minutes in pan. Cut around flans to loosen; turn out each in center of soup bowl. Ladle soup around flans and serve.

Another soup success! This was almost like a lighter French onion soup, but without the bread, and with the cheese in the form of the flan. Jon thinks beef broth would work as well, but it would be a heavier and richer soup. The presentation was beautiful - I would love to serve this soup at a dinner party.

The flan was delicious! I could have eaten it on its own. The changes I made - less onions, added sage, added white pepper, added chives -really worked and the result was a savory and creamy flan. This soup will be good for lunch tomorrow even without the flan as I only made 2 to try tonight.

Have a great week everyone!