My Favorite French Onion Soup

loveleesmile's Note:

I make soups ALOT. This is great. Recipe comes from Take Home Chef Curtis Stone. My kids love it

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 6 onions, thinly sliced (about 3 pounds/1.4 g total)
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 large fresh thyme sprigs
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1/2 cup sherry wine
• 8 cups good quality beef stock
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 6 slices sourdough bread (3/4-inch-/2-cm-thick slices)
• 6 ounces gruyere cheese, shredded
• 5 g thinly sliced fresh flat leaf parsley

Directions:

1. To prepare the soup and toast:.
2. Place a heavy based large pot over a moderate heat. Drizzle the olive oil into the hot pot and add the onions.
3. Cook the onions for 1 hour or until they are golden, stirring often. Once the onions become very soft they will begin to stick to the bottom of the pot and turn a caramel brown color. As this occurs, scrape the browned onions from the bottom of the pot and stir them into the remaining onion mixture.
4. Add the garlic, thyme and bay leaf to the onions and cook for 5 minutes or until the garlic softens. Add the red wine and sherry and stir to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Simmer for 5 minutes or until the liquids reduce by half.
5. Add the stock and bring the soup to a gentle simmer, skimming any foam that rises to the top, if necessary. Season the soup lightly with salt and pepper. Add just a bit of salt and pepper here, but not too much since the soup will reduce as it simmers and the flavors will become more concentrated.
6. Allow the soup to simmer uncovered for 25 minutes. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper. Meanwhile, preheat the broiler on high. Arrange the sourdough bread slices on a baking sheet and broil for 2 minutes or until golden brown on top.
7. Divide the soup among 6 high sided ovenproof serving bowls. Place the bowls of soup on a heavy baking sheet. Place one bread slice, toasted side down, on top of each bowl of soup.
8. Divide the cheese among the soup bowls and sprinkle with parsley. Place the soup bowls under the broiler for about 3 minutes or until the cheese melts and is golden brown. Remove from the broiler and serve.

Reviews

[JulianneO]

My Dad is a huge French Onion Soup fan, but he rarely gets it. The only time that he would order it is when he would go on business trips and his work would pay for it, because it can be very pricey. So as a surprise to him I made this soup and he absolutely loved it. He would give it 10 stars if he could. Thanks for making his day!

[604 Center]

I've saved this one, because it's the only one I found that didn't use boullion cubes. After I make it, I'll let you know how it is.

[mini_1]

This soup is very good and very rich. I used some of the leftovers in lieu of canned soup to make a really good salisbury steak. Thanks for posting this recipe loveleesmile, we definately will be making it again soon with the cold weather finally here!