Recipe: French Onion Soup

French Onion soup is on the top of my list as far as soup goes. It has so much flavor and is easy to make. However, it does take some time and attention so this is a dish to make when the kiddos are napping or preoccupied! Lately I have been craving it, (pregnancy will do that to a girl) so earlier this week I went out and bought the ingredients that I didn't already have on hand. Today was my 4th time having it this week! Yumm!

Ingredients

(You will need an oven safe bowl)

One small onion (or a half of a large one)
enough Olive Oil to cover the bottom of pan
1 pat of butter (about a tbls)
1 heaping spoon of minced garlic (I love garlic!)
1 tsp. sugar
1 tbls. flour
A splash of White cooking wine
A few shakes of Worcestershire sauce
1 to 2 cups of beef stock (I just eyeball it!)
A thick chunk of french bread
white cheese

(The traditional cheese for this soup is Gruyere, but I have yet to find that in the store. I've used different ones like provolone or white cheddar, or mozzarella. This time I used an Italian blend of shredded cheeses since it is what I already had on hand. It had Parmesan, mozzarella, asiago,provolone, fontina, and Romano.)

***(TASTE FIRST BEFORE ADDING SALT! Mine was not salty enough (i used unsalted butter) so I added a few shakes of Tony Chachere's (a cajun spice that has salt in it).

***I also had parsley on hand, so I threw a pinch of it in there.)


Pour the olive oil in the pan, and turn on medium. Cut the onion in quarter to half dollar size pieces. Put the onions in with the pat of butter and the tsp. of sugar. Cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes covering the pan, but stirring often. DO NOT BURN! You want the onions to get really soft, but you don't want to see any brown on them. Add the garlic and the Tbls. of flour and stir, cooking for about 2 more minutes. Add a splash of white cooking wine and scrape the bottom of the pan, getting all of the onion, garlic and flour mixture off of the bottom. (That's where a lot of the flavor is.) Add a few splashes of Worcestershire. Slowly pour in the beef broth and cook for another 5-10 minutes on medium to medium high heat or until really hot and bubbling.


Pour the soup into an oven safe crock (or bowl) and top with french bread. I break a little of it up and put some at the bottom and then place the other pieces on top. Add cheese.

Turn oven on broil (I use a small conventional oven) and place in oven on the top rack. Keep an eye on it so that it won't burn. You just want the cheese to melt and get a little brown.

Eat and Enjoy!!!