French Onion Soup

prep time:: 30 min
total time:: 2 hr

Makes 2 generous servings

The secret to the great taste in the recipe is the very long and slow cooking of the onions until carmelized. Your time will be well worth it for the flavor this step will provide so don’t skimp on the carmelization process.

ingredients

FOR SOUP

2 Yellow Onions, peeled, cut into quarters and sliced very thin
1 clove garlic, minced fine
1 t sugar
1 t dried thyme
2 T butter
2 T canola oil
1/4 cup Dry Marsala Wine or Sherry (not cooking sherry) or you can use a dry red wine
2 T Flour
2 14 oz cans beef broth or your own homemade beef stock
Salt and Pepper to your taste

FOR TOPPING

1 cup french bread, cut into cubes and toasted in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes
6 T grated fresh Parmesan Cheese or your favorite cheese for melting (divided into 2 portions - one portion each bowl)
Olive Oil for drizzling to your taste

directions

1
FOR SOUP:
2
In a soup pot, heat the pot over medium heat and add the oil and the butter. When the butter melts, add the onions and saute for 10 minutes. At this point, add in the sugar and cook for another 10 minutes. Onions should be getting a light caramel color. Once it gets to this color, add the garlic and saute for another 5 to 10 minutes until the onions are reduced and they have a rich, brown color. Add the thyme and cook one more minute. Add a small amount of salt and pepper at this point.
3
Sprinkle the flour over the onion mixture and cook for another 2 minutes until the flour has absorbed most of the remaining liquid and is cooked but not brown. Deglaze with the Marsala or wine and cook, scraping the bottom. Bring to a simmer.
4
Next, add the beef broth and mix thoroughly. Bring to a simmer, cover the pot and let cook 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, taste and correct seasoning.

1
SERVING SUGGESTIONS:
2
This is a wonderful Saturday night, rainy day soup. I normally serve this with a selection of cheeses, meats, fruit, bread and a salad along with a wine to complement it all. Its a perfect meal for a long night of movies at home as you can just have the soup then “pick” at the rest of it.
3
It’s also good for a crowd as you can easily double, triple, etc. the recipe as long as you have the bowls to pull it off. As everything else is “make ahead”, it’s easy entertaining.

1
PREPARING THE GRATINEE (TOPPING AND THE SOUP):
2
Use two ovenproof bowls for your soup for this step.
3
Preheat your broiler to 500 degrees.
4
On a baking sheet, place your bowls and ladle soup about 3/4 of the way up inside. Top with the bread cubes, sprinkle with the cheese and add just a little of the olive oil on top.
5
Place about 4 inches under broiler element and cook about 3-5 minutes, watching very carefully so you do not burn the bread.
6
Immediately take the bowls out of the oven and put on heat proof plates for serving.