French Onion Soup

Yesterday I made some French Onion soup. It is a favorite of Fred's and mine but we do not have it very often. We will usually have it when we go out to eat at certain places that make it well, like Steak Loft. It is a long cooking process but it is worth it because it can be  a labor of love. If you love this soup and you love someone who loves this soup, take a day to make it for them. It will show them a tiny bit of how you feel. Plus, you gotta love each other cause you are gonna REEK of onions afterward. :)

Cook Time: 3 hours
Yields: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

1/2 cup of butter or margarine
2 teaspoons of olive oil
6 onions; I used 1 white, 1 sweet, and the rest were yellow onions. Sliced thinly
3 cloves of garlic; minced or use microplane grater if you have one.
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon of dried Thyme
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper
1 cup of red wine
3 heaping tablespoons of white flour
2 quarts of beef broth; you can use veggie broth if you want to make this a vegan soup.
1 french bread baguette
1/2 lb of Gruyere, or Swiss, or Provolone cheese; if making Vegan, use Daiya Mozz cheese.

Directions

You are going to need a heavy pot to cook this in. You do not have to have a Dutch oven like I do in this picture but you are going to be cooking this for a long time and you do not want to scorch the bottom. That would be a tragedy.

I cut my onions in half and then slice half moons. Do it anyway you want. They should be cut thin but do not stress if any thick pieces end up in there..they will cook down. This is what 6 onions looks like.

In the pot, put your butter and olive oil. When butter is melted, add your garlic, bay leaves, and thyme. I like to cook the garlic for like 2 minutes before I throw the onions in. Put the onions in, mix to incorporate. Add your salt and pepper. Now put the heat on medium/low and put a lid on. It is going to cook for 25 minutes. You can go back and check and stir once in awhile but you do not have to sit on it.

At this point you may want to open your wine and give it time to breathe. This is Yellow Tail Chardonnay. It is a very nice wine from Australia. Not expensive either. This bottle cost $6 during Christmas time. Do not worry about the wine getting you drunk in the soup. The alcohol will disappear during the cooking. It is kid safe!

After the 25 minutes, this is what your onions will look like. Now it is time to add the wine. But first, go digging around and pull out those bay leaves. You are done with those. Turn the heat up to medium under the burner.

It is Purple! hehehe Now you are going to bring the soup/wine to a boil. Once it is boiling, turn it down to medium low so that it is simmering. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the flour in at this point and mix it completely in. Cook this on low for 10 minutes. You are cooking the flour at this point. You do not have to sit on top of it but do not stray far. Give it some stirs once in awhile. After the 10 minutes you are going to add in the broth. Stupid me forgot to take a picture. I put the dutch oven on the back burner of the stove. I cooked in on low for 2 1/2-3 hours. Low and Slow. It is going to reduce and it is going to be yummy. If you want to cook it longer, go ahead. It will not hurt it. Just keep an eye on it. Your whole house is going to smell like onions, garlic, and thyme.

Fred bought these for me for Christmas one year. One for him and one for me. The girls detest onion soup so there was no sense buying them a bowl. They come with little lids. You can find them in any kitchen supply store. Not expensive at all. If you have some heat proof bowls, they will work too.
Fred and I are on a low carb diet. So we did not use the bread but I will tell you that step anyhow. LOL

Slice your baguette in thick slices. You may want one or two for your bowl. Heat your oven to 350 deg F. Put bread on cookie sheet. You are going to toast the slices. About 5 minutes on each side should do it. If you have a toaster oven, even better! After the bread is done, turn on your broiler.

You are going to put your bread in the bowl, pour your soup over the bread, up to the top of the rim of the bowl (it is hot so BE CAREFUL). Then you put your cheese on top. Have it so that it kind of hangs over the sides a bit. The more cheese the better!
Put the bowls on a cookie sheet, slide them under the broiler and watch them carefully. We left them in too long so the cheese collapsed causing it to become overly ooey gooey. Those burnt pieces on the sides are the best!
 The soup is molten hot so be careful when you are first eating it.

That is it. Yummy Oniony Cheesy goodness. Your love will love you for it cause they know you took the time to make it just for them!
Enjoy!