French Onion Soup

The trick to a great French Onion Soup is starting with decent stock. French onion soup is typically made with beef stock. I've made beautiful soup with stock from the leftover rib and chine bones of a rib roast. Another important component is the proper caramelization of the onions. Caramelizing onions take at least thirty minutes of gentle cooking the onions over medium high heat. The browning, or caramelizing, of the onions brings out the sweetness in them.

This is a best way of making use of the onions from your garden. You'll previously have most of the other ingredients in your kitchen cupboard so no need to buy lots of ingredients. 

Don't be fooled by the detail that this is a French Onion Soup recipe! It's just about a main meal when combined with the bread and cheese. 

Ingredients

• 6 large red or yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced.
• Olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon of sugar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 cups of beef stock, chicken stock or a combination of the two (usually the soup is made with beef stock)
• 1/2 cup of dry vermouth or dry white wine
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 teaspoon of dry thyme
• Salt and pepper
• 8 slices of toasted French bread
• 1 1/2 cups of grated Swiss Gruyere with a little grated Parmesan cheese

How to make French Onion Soup

Start by shedding the four onions and chopping it into small bits. 

This is the most laborious slice of this recipe - it takes 10 minutes or so to chop up four onions and the waterworks will flow!

Put the onions into a frying pan; add the butter, margarine or olive oil and improvement to a medium heat. 

Turn the onions every minute or so to indemnify they are evenly cooked. Aim to cook the onions until they are a medium brown color.

Transfer the onions from the frying pan to a big pan and add all the ingredients without the cheese and bread. 

Cook the soup on an average (medium) heat for about 30 minutes. The aim is to get the onions so they are lenient but not falling apart.

While the soup is cooking, set the soup bowls in the oven to get them warm.

Cut up the French bread into parts and put them under the grill to very lightly toast them.

When lightly toasted, prevalence some cheese over each slice of bread.

Just before the soup is ready to be attended, put the cheese topped bread under the grill and cook until the cheese starts to bubble. 

The bread is then meant to be put on the top of the soup and attended. However, we weren't too keen on this so in the picture below the bread is served on a different plate.

This looks like a snack-sized meal but in fact it's quite filling.

With enough toast and a brittle green side salad, it's a meal all on its own.

Enjoy!