French Onion Soup

Written by on in Dinner, Soup

After being sick for the last two weeks, I decided soup for dinner sounded like a good idea. There was a chill in the air, so perfect weather for a crock of French Onion Soup with swiss cheese and crusty French bread.

French Onion Soup
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French Onion Soup

Recipe by The Cooking LawyerCourse: DinnerCuisine: FrenchDifficulty: Easy
Servings

6

servings
Prep time

10

minutes
Cooking time

1

hour 
Total time

1

hour 

10

minutes

Ingredients

  • 6 cups chopped onion (mix of yellow and Vidalia), slice thin

  • 2 TBS butter

  • 2 TBS olive oil

  • 1 tsp sugar

  • 1 tsp salt

  • 2 cloves garlic, diced

  • 3 TBS flour

  • 1/2 cup dry white cooking wine

  • 6 cups beef broth

  • 1 bay leaf

  • Salt and pepper to taste

  • 2-3 TBS cognac, like Hennessy

  • French baguette

  • 1 TBS olive oil

  • 6-12 slices of reduced fat swiss cheese

Directions

  • Thinly slice onions.
  • In Dutch oven, over low heat, melt butter and olive oil.
  • Add onions to Dutch oven. Mix to combine onions with butter-olive oil mixture.
  • Cover with lid, and let onions sweat down for 20 minutes
  • After 20 minutes, remove lid. Add sugar and salt. Increase heat to medium-low. Caramelize the onions. Be patient. It’s better to have the heat lower to prevent the onions from burning.
  • Add flour and diced garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
  • Add wine and de-glaze the pot using a wooden spatula to remove brown bits from pot.
  • Add beef broth and a bay leaf. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil. Then let simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom or burns.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • About half-way through the simmer time, slice baguette into 1 inch pieces. Using a pastry brush, brush on the olive oil. Toast the bread in an oven at 350 degrees, about 5 minutes (watch your oven as you do not want the bread to burn, you just want it toasty so it does not fall apart in the soup. You are basically making a large crouton.)
  • After you place the baguette slices in the oven, add 2-3 capfuls of cognac to the soup. Stir well. Continue simmering until the original 30 minutes is over. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  • In individual crocks, add one slice of toasted baguette and fill with soup.
  • Depending on how thick your swiss cheese is sliced, add 1-2 slices of swiss cheese.
  • Turn oven to broil. Place the crocks on a large baking sheet. Broil for about 5 minutes just until cheese is melted. Keep an eye on the broiler as the cheese can ignite or burn, if you do not watch to make sure.
  • Enjoy your soup!

Notes

  • This recipe is based upon the Julia Childs’ classic French onion soup.

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