French Onion Soup

Who doesn’t love a bowl of French Onion Soup?

French Onion Soup is perfect for those days when you want to put a lot of love into a meal.  If you make bread bowls at the same time, this meal can easily become an all day process.  It’s time consuming, but a labor of love.  It’s definitely one of those recipes that cannot be rushed.  French Onion Soup needs time to develop all of those beautiful flavors.

So if it’s a cold, blustery day and you feel like hunkering down in the kitchen for a couple hours, this is the perfect soup!

Recipe notes:

*The time it takes to caramelize the onions depends how aggressive you are with the heat.  I typically go for low & slow, otherwise I have a tendency to sauté my onions rather than caramelize.  If you decide to raise the heat a bit, your cooking time will be less.

*You can replace the wine with additional beef broth, if preferred, though you will sacrifice some depth of flavor.  If you aren’t a wine drinker, you can freeze the leftover wine to use in future recipes!

French Onion Soup

Adapted slightly from Some Kitchen Stories

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

6 medium (or 4 large) white onions, thinly sliced

3 garlic cloves, smashed, then chopped

2 bay leaves

½ tsp dried thyme

Salt & pepper

1 cup dry red wine

¼ cup all purpose flour

2 quarts (8 cups) beef broth

6 bread bowls

½ lb Gruyere cheese, shredded

Melt the butter in a large soup pot over medium heat.  Add the sliced onions, garlic, bay leaf, thyme, and a dash of salt and pepper.  Stir to coat everything with butter.  Cook for about 3 minutes or until the onions begin to soften, then lower the heat to medium-low. 

Cook the onions, stirring occasionally for another 40-60 minutes or until the onions have caramelized to a deep amber color.  You will have to stir much more frequently during the last 10 minutes to keep the onions from burning.

Pour the red wine over the onions and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Simmer until the wine has evaporated and the onions can be stirred without liquid seeping in the gaps (it will still appear to be boiling a bit).

Sprinkle the flour over the onions and stir.  Cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add in the beef stock and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until ready to serve.

To serve, place a tablespoon of gruyere into the bottoms of prepared bread bowls, add soup and top with 2-3 more tablespoons of gruyere.  Broil for 1-2 minutes to melt cheese, if desired.  Serve immediately.

Serves 6