Sunday, January 2, 2011

French Onion Soup

 

French Onion Soup 011

I made a pot of French Onion Soup yesterday to keep us warm while we watching the very sad Michigan football teams get spanked on New Year’s Day. :(    At least the soup was good.  I saw a post earlier in the week over at My Carolina Kitchen and Sam made a delicious looking French Onion Soup but her twist on it was to dice the onions into very small pieces instead of the traditional slices.  I liked this idea and decided to give it a try.  And it gave me an excuse to use one of my favorite kitchen gadgets, the Vidalia Chop Wizard. I got mine at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and I am not sure if I have seen them at Target or not.  It comes with two sized inserts.  I used the smallest.  I use it all the time to get uniformly small onions and green and red peppers.  

  French Onion Soup 012 image

I only wanted a small pot of soup so this recipe will make 4 to 6 bowls of soup.  It can easily doubled.   It’s hard to believe that such simple ingredients can make something so delicious.  The onion broth was rich and flavorful and the broiled Gruyere cheese on a piece of chewy Ciabatta bread that I had leftover from some Bruschetta that I had made the night before finished it off.  The soup tasted like it came from a good restaurant.  DELICIOUS!

French Onion Soup

1 1/2 pounds of onions (approximately 6 medium sized onions), diced (approximately 4 cups diced)

3 Tbsp. olive oil

2 Tbsp. butter

1 carton (32 oz.) of Beef Stock.

1 Cup Red or White wine  (I used some leftover red wine)

Bay leaf

Pinch of Thyme

Kosher salt

pepper

Gruyere cheese

French bread or Ciabatta bread slices

Place the olive oil and melt the butter in a soup stockpot over medium high heat.  Add the onions and stir.  Saute the onions until they turn a deep, golden brown color.  Reduce the heat a little bit at a time to be careful not to burn the onions (approximately 20 minutes).  Once the onions are done caramelizing and are a rich brown in color, deglaze your stock pot by adding the wine and stirring to get all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan.  Add the beef broth and stir.  Add the salt, pepper, bay leaf, and thyme and let simmer for 30 minutes to 1 hour. 

French Onion Soup 003

I ladled the hot soup into some oven proof bowls, cut a large piece of bread in half so the it would fit and placed it on top of the soup.  Then I sprinkled Gruyere cheese on top.  (Swiss cheese world work here too and I threw in some grated Jarlsburg that I had in the refrigerator.)  Broil between 2 and 3 minutes.  Watch carefully so that it doesn’t burn.  Next time I might add some Parmesan Reggiano to the cheese topping for extra deliciousness.  :)

French Onion Soup 008

This was so good and so much easier than I expected.  Next time you get a craving for some French Onion Soup, try and make it yourself.  It’s delicious and so easy.

11 comments:

Stacey said...

I think my husband would be in heaven with this soup! Thanks.

Donna~One Simple Country Girl said...

Yummo! Thanks for sharing this recipe. I'm def gonna give this one a try! Happy New Year!
~Donna

Anonymous said...

YUM! My husband is a big fan of French Onion soup so will have to attempt this recipe.

Di

Melanie said...

Sounds yummy. I started counting the calories yesterday and so far, not fun! Sorry about all the Michigan teams:(

We won! Go FSU!

Tee said...

Happy New Year Miss Lisa!

Ok, so I want to try this but have never bought Gruyere cheese. Do you have to buy a big block or what? And if so, what do I do with the rest of it after the soup's done? We had mac n cheese at the French restaurant at Disney last month - it was divine! I googled the recipe but no amounts were given.

From Beyond My Kitchen Window said...

The soup looks so yummy. The cheese of course is my favorite. I have that exact chopper and sort of showcased it on my very first post this past September 2010. It does a wonderful job , but my hand always hurts from banging it closed.

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

Lisa, I just love that chop gadget. How cool is that? I'm so glad you liked my onion soup.

I'm wishing you a very healthy and happy new year.
Big hugs,
Sam

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

Oops, sorry I forgot to say how sad it was about Michigan. I must have had a blonde moment. We watched a lot of the bowl games.
Sam

Triad said...

My aunt had this onion chopper over Christmas and I was so impressed! I got the "Ninja" for Christmas, which is like a food processor/chopper/blender all in one! I have not given it a try yet, but making this soup would be a good excuse to use it!

Triad said...

By the way, the comment above is from Rachel (Triad Moms on Main) I am failing miserably at setting up a google account that links to the website. Ha!

Pamela said...

Oh I'm happy I got to read this post. My husband loves French Onion Soup and I've never made it for him. You made it seem easy.

Hope your new year is filled with good recipes and joy!