French Onion Soup

Ingredients

  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • 4-5 onions, sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • Bay leaves
  • Fresh thyme sprigs
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1/2 bottle red wine
  • 3 tbsp flour
  • 2 qts beef stock
  • 1 baguette, sliced
  • Your favorite cheese

Steps

  1. In a pot, over medium heat, melt butter.
  2. Add onions, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the onions are soft and caramelized (usually 25-30 minutes).
  3. Add wine, bring to a boil. Simmer until the wine has fully boiled off and there is no liquid in the pot (5-10 minutes).
  4. Remove the bay leaves and thyme. Sprinkle in the flour and stir well to full incorporate in the onions. Turn heat down to medium low and cook for about 10 minutes keeping an eye so nothing burns.
  5. Add the beef broth, bring back to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes or until hot all the way through.
  6. Remove from heat and season to taste with salt and pepper.
  7. Before serving, pre-heat the oven broiler.
  8. Arrange the baguette slices in a single layer on a baking sheet.
  9. Cover the baguette slices in cheese and broil 3-5 minutes until bubbly and golden brown.
  10. Serve the soup in bowls with the cheesy baguette croutons on top.

Notes!

Typical cheeses for French onion soup are Gruyere, Comte, or Emmental. But cheese can be a little pricey, so Swiss also works quite well (Gruyere and Emmental are both Swiss type cheeses anyways). I also like the nuttiness of Parmesan with French onion soup and will sometimes put Parmesan crisps in with the croutons.

Instead of making the croutons seperately you can also just put the bread right into the bowl with the soup, cover the whole top of the bowl in cheese and throw it all under the broiler. Be careful to only do this if your bowls are oven safe.