French Onion Soup

French Onion Soup

Continuing on my quest to make some recipes from the latest issue of Bon Appetit magazine, I decided to try my hand at the French onion soup next.  It was a cool, fall weekend day, so soup seemed the perfect fit!  Also, my husband Ryan likes French onion soup and I have never made it for him before.  So I was planning the surprise.  

This recipe appeared in the latest issue of the magazine, but can also be found here.  I made a few changes to meet our needs.  Plus the original recipe gave a few options to choose from (like using dry vermouth or white wine, and a choice of comte cheese or gruyere).

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons butter

6 large onions, about 5 pounds, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely diced
salt and pepper
1/2 cup white wine
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
8 cups chicken broth (you can use vegetable broth if you want to make this vegetarian)
8 slices French bread, thickly sliced
8 ounces Gruyere cheese, sliced

   

Directions:

1.   Heat the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat.

2.  Add the onions and garlic.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook until softened and brown, about 60-70 minutes.  Make sure you stir occasionally so that the onions do not burn.

Color of onions at beginning

Color of onions after 75 minutes on very low simmer

3.  Add the white wine and vinegar and bring to a boil.  Once it hits the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes.

4.  Add the chicken broth, parsley, thyme, and bay leaf to the pot.  Bring to a boil.  Once it reaches the boil, reduce heat and simmer until reduced to about 8 cups.  This will take about 35-40 minutes.  Make sure you stir frequently to prevent burning.

5.  Remove the bay leaf from the pot.

6.  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  

7.  Place ovenproof bowls on a cookie sheet with a rim.  Divide soup among the bowls.  Top with the toasted bread.  Then top with a slice of the cheese.

8.  Bake until cheese is bubbling and golden brown.  This will take about 6 - 8 minutes.

This recipe was surprisingly easy and doesn't take many ingredients.  The main issue with the recipe is the time it takes to cook!  So when you have a nice, cool weekend day - think about making this.  It was really very delicious.  Or, this soup can be made up to 2 days ahead.  So make it on a Sunday and enjoy it on Tuesday after work.