French Onion Soup

Cut up the onions but do not dice them. You want nice, long and slinky onions. Once the onions are sliced lengthwise, cut these rounds in half and you’re good to go.

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions, minced garlic, bay leaves, thyme, sea salt and pepper. Cook until the onions become soft and caramelized , about 25 minutes.

Hopefully you didn’t drink all of the wine, because you now need to add the wine to the pot. Once the wine has been added, bring to a rolling boil and then reduce the heat. Simmer until the wine has evaporated. If it’s taking too long (if you used more wine or less onion), you can drain off the wine and throw the contents back into the pot.

Pick out the bay leaves and sprigs of thyme; discard.

Dust the onions with the flour and give them a stir. Make sure the heat is on medium-low so you don’t burn the flour. Simmer for approximately 10 minutes to ensure the flour taste doesn’t kick around. Add the beef broth and bring the soup to a simmer. Season with sea salt and pepper to taste. Add little amounts of salt at a time and taste along the way. You can always add more, but you can’t take the salt out.

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

While the soup simmers, prepare the baguette. I didn’t have a baguette handy (fail!) so I improvised and made some little herbed bread sticks. So, whatever bread you’re using, butter the top half and garnish with some fresh thyme and oregano.

Bake in the oven until slightly golden and crispy (7-10 minutes). Keep an eye on it, since all ovens are different and you don’t want them too crispy since they will be going back into the oven later. No one wants burnt bread in their soup.

When bread is ready, take it out and set aside. Leave oven temperature at 350ºF.

Spoon the soup into little porcelain French onion soup bowls. Place bread on top and cover with Gruyere. I garnished my cheese with some thyme and oregano because I love herbs, in case you haven’t noticed.

Bake in the oven at 350ºF for approximately 5– 7 minutes, or until cheese is starting to bubble and gurgle and turn a nice golden brown color. Be sure to not touch the porcelain bowls when you take them out of the oven. They stay really hot for a while.

Dig in!