French Onion Soup


I'm sick. Or I'm getting sick. My husband has left me at home alone while he goes out for a holiday party without me. He has left me to fend for myself like an injured animal in the wilderness.

Except injured animals don't have leftover French onion soup in the freezer they can defrost and heat up at a moment's notice.

Chicken noodle soup might have been better, but this is still pretty delicious. I love french onion soup any time of year from its richness, the sweetness, the cheese, etc. It's perfect, easy and quite cheap to make. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Like all of my recipes, this isn't so much a recipe as a baseline. It changes from time to time depending on what I have in stock,

Now if you excuse me, I need to go blow my nose, cough up a lung and make a pot of ginger tea.

French Onion Soup
Ingredients
  • 10 cups sliced sweet onions (about 5 Oso or Maui onions)
  • 3 or 4 cloves garlic
  • 2 or 3 Tbsp butter
  • a few sprigs fresh time
  • 1 tsp caraway seed
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 cup wine (red or white... it won't really matter in the end)
  • about 2 1/2 quarts stock (I use half an half beef and chicken but most people prefer all beef)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • stale french bread
  • gruyere or swiss cheese

Direction
  1. Melt butter over medium low heat in a dutch oven. Add onions, garlic, bay leaf, thyme and caraway and cook down until the onions are well caramelized (a couple hours, give or take). Leave them alone on lower heat, but make sure they don't burn.
  2. Deglaze the pot with wine  and cook down slightly.  Add stock. Season soup to taste
  3. Simmer soup for an hour or so until flavors come together.
  4. Pour soup into ramekins or oven safe mugs. Top with a toast point and cheese. Place under the broiler just until the cheese melts and browns slightly.
  5. Eat immediately with gusto. Enjoy




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