French Onion Soup

A few weeks ago Taylor and I were perusing the Crate and Barrel Outlet store in our area and stumbled upon the cutest little French onion soup pots. At their [wonderfully discounted] outlet price, we couldn’t pass them up. I found an awesome recipe from Food Network’s Alton Brown…and then altered it a bit!

 

Ingredients

· 5 sweet onions (like Vidalias) or a combination of sweet and red onions (about 4 pounds)

· 3 tablespoons butter

· 1 teaspoon salt

· 2 cups white wine

· 10 ounces canned beef consume

· 10 ounces chicken broth

· 10 ounces apple cider (unfiltered is best)

· Bouquet garni; thyme sprigs, bay leaf and parsley tied together with kitchen string

· 1 loaf country style bread

· Kosher salt

· Ground black pepper

· Splash of Cognac (optional)

· 1 cup Fontina or Gruyere cheese, grated

Directions

Trim the ends off each onion then halve lengthwise. Remove peel and finely slice into half-moon shapes.

[I found 4 large yellow onions to be plenty]

Set electric skillet to 300 degrees and add butter.

[We don’t own an electric skillet, so I used a large pot. Gotta get creative sometimes!]

Once butter has melted add a layer of onions and sprinkle with a little salt. Repeat layering onions and salt until all onions are in the skillet [pot]. Do not try stirring until onions have sweated down for 15 to 20 minutes. After that, stir occasionally until onions are dark mahogany and reduced to approximately 2 cups. This should take 45 minutes to 1 hour. Do not worry about burning.

[I followed this step to a T. It’s extremely difficult not to stir a huge pot of onions for 20 minutes, but trust me, it’s worth it! Oh! Side tid-bit I would have found useful to know: after the first 20 minutes, go ahead and put a lid partially over the pot. Maybe your entire house won’t smell like onions…like ours does!]

Add enough wine to cover the onions and turn heat to high, reducing the wine to a syrup consistency.

[I wish I had followed this step but we didn’t have white wine on hand. I think the flavor would have been great if we had added it!]

Add consume, chicken broth, apple cider and bouquet garni. Reduce heat and simmer 15 to 20 minutes.

[I used apple juice instead of cider (again, you gotta work with what you’ve got!) and just threw in some thyme, a bay leaf and parsley]

Place oven rack in top 1/3 of oven and heat broiler.

Cut country bread in rounds large enough to fit mouth of oven safe soup crocks. Place the slices on a baking sheet and place under broiler for 1 minute.

[I think toasting the bread a bit is key so that the bread has at least a fighting chance of not becoming a soggy mess the second it hits the soup. We used a loaf of French bread.]

Season soup mixture with salt, pepper and cognac.

[We didn’t add the cognac]

Remove bouquet garni and ladle soup into crocks leaving one inch to the lip. Place bread round, toasted side down, on top of soup and top with grated cheese. Broil until cheese is bubbly and golden, 1 to 2 minutes. 
[I'll admit: we used jarlsberg and mozzarella instead of gruyere...it worked just fine]

Enjoy.

Mmmmmmmmmm!