French Onion Soup

It's currently snowing outside. And it's March 19th. This is not too much of a surprise as I am currently in the Upstate New York area. It's beautiful, and I actually really like the snow. It seems that whenever it does snow, the little cook in my heart decides it wants to dance it's way out of my heart and into the kitchen. Today, we cooked up one of my favorite dishes - French Onion Soup.

 Caramelized onions simmering in a full, oniony yet sweet broth, richly soaked bread with chewy melted cheese, and piping hot from broiled in the oven makes this soup 

Also - I normally dislike Swiss Cheese. However, whatever happens when Swiss Cheese hits Onion Soup is one of the most indescribably delicious things I have ever tasted.Whatever magical change allows these flavors to meld together in such a fantastic way is just that - magical. 

So without further fanfare, I give you French Onion Soup. 

Ingredients:

2  Large White onions, Sliced. 

1 T salt

1 T sugar (yes, sugar. Trust me.)

4 T butter

4 cups beef stock (it really should be homemade in order to taste as magical as described above). 

1 t thyme

~1 cup Croutons or dried slices of a small baguette (this has a name... I'm just drawing a blank). 

4 Slices Swiss cheese. 

Serves 4 

Directions:

Add butter, onions, salt, and sugar in a soup pot, and brown on medium. **A note about browning onions. The salt (and in this case sugar) helps them to brown more quickly. They need constantly stirring and should take about 15 mins to become limp, and another 5 or so to brown darkly. For this, you want these guys dark dark brown, but not burned. This does take patience, but it pays off. 

Keep going - these are about halfway. 

Once the onions are browner than a brownie (okay, not quite, but almost), add the beef broth, stir and simmer for 30+ mins. You can let this simmer for a few hours if needed, or even put it in the slow cooker on low for the day. Just make sure you don't reduce it down to an onion syrup. That's a no-no. 

Taste. Add sugar or salt as desired. This should be a rich blend of oniony sweetness, underlined with a savory beef flavor. 

Spoon into dishes, top with croutons or bread, and top with swiss. If you want to do it right, place it in a pre-heated oven on broil. This will allow the cheese to melt onto the bread and create a delicious cheesy crust on top of the soup and really makes the flavors do something akin to magic (seriously - it's amazing) in your mouth. 

you're serving this for a casual family dinner (not trying to impress friends), just serve the cheese and bread on the side, and let people serves themselves everything. 

Enjoy!!

Shorthand:

Brown onions, salt, sugar, and butter 15 mins. Add broth, simmer 30+mins. Divide into ramekins, layer with bread, cheese. Broil til brown, serve. 

Questions on how to make homemade beef broth? Please leave a comment if you'd like me to post my beef broth recipe!