French Onion Soup

French onion soup can be a little tedious in the beginning but it's one of the most satisfying do-it-yourself comfort foods.

 

Ingredients:

1 lrg White Onion

1 lrg Spanish Onions

1/2 of a Purple Onion (mostly because I had it in the fridge

2 cloves of Garlic - minced

1 Tbl dried Rosemary     } I like my french onion really herby.  If you don't 

1/2 Tbl  dried Tarragon  } you can cut these down to 1 tsp or Rosemary,

3 Bay Leaves                 } 1/2 tsp Tarragon, and 2 Bay Leaves

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 c Red Wine

3 c Beef broth (easily substituted with Vegetable broth for a Vegetarian soup)

1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

Olive Oil

grated Swiss and Asiago

a baguette

Kitchen mandolins are a great little invention and make this soooo much easier!  Another good tool are tea filters, they're these empty, sort of do it your self tea-bags for loose leaf tea - you'll see why in a bit.

First thing is to slice up the onions and put them in a soup pot with a little olive oil and the minced garlic.  This is be the most arduous tasks in making the soup ... you need to caramelize the onions.  This can take 45 minutes or so as you'll need to saute all of the water out of the onions before they start to really brown.

While the onions are cooking, start to set up the next few things.  Put the Rosemary, Tarragon, and Bay leaves in the tea bag ...

Also measure out the wine and beef broth (splash in the tsp of Worcestershire sauce) and grate the cheeses (I like using both for a little variety).  I cut the bread into cubes (not the whole loaf, just enough for the two bowls) and put them on a cookie sheet and toast them in the oven for a bit. When they've toasted, pull them out of the oven and add them into your onion soup bowls and set aside.

Once the onions are done things really start to roll.  Add the broth liquid and bring to a boil.  Toss in your herb bag and simmer for 20 minutes.  When that is done, fish out the herb bag and ladle soup into the bowls.  Top with a nice heap of the grated cheese and broil until the cheese is gooey and starts to brown.

Serve right away with slices of the remaining baguette.

Happy Feasting.