What to serve with French Onion Soup?

I made a fresh batch of stock this weekend, so I’m going to do a pot of French Onion soup for dinner with some friends later this week. My recipe yields a very rich final product which I normally just let stand by itself with a baguette - however this time I’d like to do the soup as a starter or serve with a side. Any ideas? My wife suggested small five-cheese grilled cheese sandwiches, but that would probably be way too rich…

I’d do a salad of some kind or sandwiches with a vegetable take. For a salad, perhaps something with olives, capers, tomatoes or, for a lighter touch, something with mandarin orange slices and the olives. For a sandwich… hmm… I’d tend to use similar flavors… tomatoes, red onions, bit of cheese.

I was going to say salad too. If sandwiches, maybe grilled veg with zucch, eggplant, mushrooms, onions, peppers?

Maybe if you only used three(3) cheeses it wouldn’t be so over-the-top?

Salad with duck breast, hazelnuts. Pour Cru BoJo.

P Hickner

I’d go with a salad too. You don’t serve cheese sandwiches after serving a cheesy soup. Also, be sure to moderate portion size.

Part of the answer depends on whether you want to recap the soup flavors and style or contrast them. I love the duck salad idea which is kind of a midway point between those. Something with mushrooms, caramelized onions, etc would be more in the recap camp. A salad with brighter flavors would contrast.

As a contrast, something acidic and maybe a touch of sweetness?
Fried chicken (karaage) with different dipping sauces. or Pork chop with a fruit based glaze/sauce. Salad with homemade vinaigrette.

Or you can go full French and make a jar of pork rillettes to go along with your bread.

‘Full French’ would be duck rillettes, no?

(I’ve been told that most rillettes de canard you encounter in France use the time-honored ratio of one duck to one pig. [berserker.gif] )

I just thought of this recipe that I love (although I can’t eat it any more [cry.gif] ). Michael Chiarello’s warm pasta salad. Super yummy and light.

http://www.napastyle.com/recipe/recipe.jsp?productId=2329&parentCategoryId=614&categoryId=721&subCategoryId=716

Thank you to everyone - there are some great ideas here! The warm pasta salad is an interesting idea and looks easy to put together - which is a big plus as the dinner is mid week.