French Onion Soup
Makes 4-6 servings
This is as close as I can get to my favorite Parisian bistro’s version, and I bet if I made my own stock I’d nail it. And it’s only 40 minutes all in, from first onion slice to spoon in mouth.
Ingredients
2 sweet onions, sliced
Half a stick of butter (4 Tablespoons)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt, to taste
White sugar, to taste
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1 ½ boxes of beef and/or vegetable stock
1 cup dry sherry
½ cup red wine
Bread for toasting (GFers can use GF bread)
Gruyère cheese, shredded
Provolone cheese, sliced
Directions
Place the sliced onions in the pan, sweat them so they begin to loosen, then add ¼ of the butter and cook down, slowly. When they begin to brown the pan, start scraping. Get all the browned bits up, then let it cook down again. Repeat, adding butter when it gets sticky.
Douse the onions with the garlic powder, and stir.
About 10 minutes in, I like to salt the onions, for flavor and to help caramelizing. 15 minutes in, I sprinkle them with sugar. These two steps help them brown up wonderfully.
By now, the bottom of your pan should be really sticky and burnt, and scraping might not be getting the pan clean anymore. This is when I like to splash some sherry in to deglaze, a couple of tablespoons.
I repeat this process several times until the onions are gorgeous, deep brown, and the kitchen smells delicious. My last step is to sprinkle them with cornstarch, just to help things thicken up. One last stir, and it’s time for the broth.
I cheat, and simply use boxed broths and stock. Sometimes I go all beef, sometimes I go all veggie, sometimes I mix the two. Whatever works for you. For two onions, 1½ boxes of broth is perfect.
I also pour in the remaining sherry and all of the red wine. Give it a good stir to mix everything, and let it boil, hard, for ten minutes, then reduce the heat and simmer for five more.
Obviously, you can take your time about these last two steps, but this is the quick and dirty method.
While the soup simmers, toast your bread and cut into croutons.
Spoon out the soup into oven-safe bowls, and top each bowl with the bread.
Sprinkle with generous portions (handfuls?) of Gruyère, then top with the provolone.
Heat under the broiler for 3 minutes or until the cheese is brown and gooey.
Devour. (See? Simple!)
Cook’s Note
The big trick to this soup is to properly caramelize the onions.
I do mine in a Dutch oven on the stovetop. Now, if you want to lay in a lot of onions, you can do this in the oven, in a lasagna pan, but I prefer the ease of the stovetop.
It takes a good 20 minutes to caramelize them properly, so do this well ahead of dinnertime so you aren’t rushing.