Tuesday, April 2, 2013

FRENCH ONION SOUP


FRENCH ONION SOUP

2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
5 cups sliced onions (about 5 medium onions, cut in half then sliced)
1 tsp sugar
3⅔ cup beef broth (or vegetable broth)
½ cup water
½ cup dry white wine (optional)
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
6 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1 small Multi-grain baguette
butter
2 cups grated Swiss cheese
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat your oven on the broil setting.
In a frying pan on medium heat, heat up the butter and olive oil, then add the onions and sugar, and cook until soft and caramelized (don’t burn them). Stir often. Mine took about 20 minutes.
Once the onions are caramelized, add the broth, water, wine, Dijon mustard, thyme and bay leaf.
Bring to a boil on high heat, then reduce the heat to medium and gently simmer, covered for about 20-30 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, you can get the bread topping ready.Cut the baguette into ½ inch slices, and butter each side. Place them on a cookie sheet.
Put them in your preheated oven to toast – about 2 minutes per side. Careful not to burn them!

Once they are toasted, remove the toasts from the oven, and cut them into chunks that are just a little bigger than bite sized. Set aside.
Once the soup has cooked for its 20-30 minutes, remove the thyme and the bay leaf.
Pour the soup into individual oven safe bowls. This recipe filled 4 bowls very generously.
Add the bread chunks to the top of the soup, being generous to cover the top.

Sprinkle on the Swiss and Parmesan cheeses.
Line up the bowls on a cookie sheet, and put them in the oven under broil until the cheese is melted, bubbly and slightly browned. Don’t burn them! This takes about 3 minutes.

If you are vegetarian, you could substitute the beef broth with vegetable broth.

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