French Onion Soup

Mike and I have one hilarious problem in our relationship - he knows me like the back of his hand, and I love pretending he doesn't. What's even better is that this goes both ways. I swear Mike  loves marshmallows, but then he will tell me he doesn't. Even though I distinctly remember a night at dinner with my mom where he saw a fresh package in the pantry and asked if he could open them just to stuff two in his mouth. Who does that if they don't love marshmallows?? Oh well, one thing I know for sure is he loves caramelized onions - this includes french onion soup.

While I was in California wedding planning, we had a food tasting with the chef. One of the dishes he plated for us to enjoy was a pork tenderloin on a bed of caramelized onions and mushrooms. I knew Mike would love the dish. I have only ever tried to caramelize onions once and it didn't go very well. So, I asked the chef what the big secret is. Turns out there really isn't one, you just don't move them around too often.

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 Tablespoons butter

3 White onions, sliced thinly

1 Teaspoon thyme

2 Bay leaves

3/4 Cup wine, I used Cabernet

32 Ounces of beef stock - the low sodium version, otherwise the soup will be too salty.

2 Slice of baguette for every serving

Gruyere cheese, shredded

Salt and Pepper 

Add your butter and your olive oil to a deep pot. Slice all three onions thinly and add them to the pot. Add the salt, pepper and thyme. Turn on the heat to medium high and let the onions sit. Every once and a while go ahead and give them a turn, but as the chef said leave them alone more than you touch them. It takes about 30 minutes for them to be completely ready. They will be a rich caramel color.

Just after putting them in the pot...

Just starting to brown...

Almost done... I let them get just a little bit more brown then this

Add the bay leaf, then pour the wine into the pan and let it cook down and reduce a bit, for about 4 minutes. Pour in the beef stock and bring to a boil. While that is cooking shred the cheese, and slice the bread. When the soup gets to a boil, give it a taste and make any tweaks to seasoning as you see fit. Turn the broiler on high.
 
I do not have crocks (a mental note was made to register for some) so, I used coffee mugs for my soup. I covered a cookie sheet with tinfoil, and set the mug on top before broiling on high. Scoop the soup into the mug or crock, add the slice of bread on top, and generous pile of gruyere cheese.

 

 Broil for just a few minutes and you get this... Doesn't that just look amazing!?

 

 It is awesome.