French Onion Soup

Here’s another recipe that I find hard to believe doesn’t have its own post. This is one of Wayne’s favorite soups. However, since it’s something he often orders at restaurants, I guess I don’t make it very often at home. Normally I just use the recipe from our “wedding” cookbook, but this week I did a quick online search for “best ever french onion soup” and that gave me some ideas for adjustments to make to the old standby recipe. We’re not wine drinkers, so this won’t be exactly the same, but we’ll see what Wayne thinks.

French Onion Soup

(scaled for 2 – which means it’s easily doubled)

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 large Vidalia onions (about 1 1/2 pounds), sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup white cooking wine
• 3 cups beef broth
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• slices of French bread
• garlic clove
• grated cheese (Gruyere would be great, but I used a mixture of Swiss and Mozzarella this time)

Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large pot. Add the onions, with the salt, pepper and sugar, and cook over low heat for a long time, until well caramelized. Add the wine and cook* until evaporated. Stir in the beef broth, thyme and bay leaf and simmer for a while. (Don’t you love these precise instructions!)

Just before serving, toast the French bread, then rub** with some garlic, top with cheese and broil until melted. This can be done over the soup bowl if it’s oven-proof. Otherwise, fix it on a cookie sheet and then transfer to your soup bowl. Serve immediately.

*Don’t leave the kitchen during this step, or you might end up with a burned pan to clean. 

**My French bread must have been on the soft side; even after toasting, rubbing it with garlic just “smushed” the bread.