French Onion Soup

As you read in my last post, I am exploring cuisines from around the world. For the next few weeks I will be trying my hand at French. Since this isn't "Julie & Julia" and I'm not cooking my way through an entire book, I thought I'd pick some of the more well known dishes to make.

So for my second act, I chose French Onion Soup. There were so many recipes available. But to be honest, I decided on a recipe by Tyler Florence because his incorporated red wine and I had half a bottle to use up. Luckily, the soup turned out delicious and not at all difficult to make.

French Onion Soup

Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 4 onions, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 fresh thyme sprigs
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup red wine, about 1/2 bottle
• 3 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 quarts beef broth
• 1 baguette, sliced
• 1/2 pound grated Gruyere

Directions

Melt the stick of butter in a large pot over medium heat.

Add the onions, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and salt and pepper and cook until the onions are very soft and caramelized, about 25-30 minutes.

Add the wine, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the wine has evaporated and the onions are dry, about 5 minutes (more like 7 minutes). Discard the bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Dust the onions with the flour and give them a stir. Turn the heat down to medium low so the flour doesn't burn, and cook for 10 minutes (more like 7 minutes) to cook out the raw flour taste. Now add the beef broth, bring the soup back to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.
When you're ready to eat, preheat the broiler. Arrange the baguette slices on a baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle the slices with the Gruyere and broil until bubbly and golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes.
Ladle the soup in bowls and float several of the Gruyere croutons on top.
Alternative method: Ladle the soup into bowls, top each with 2 slices of bread and top with cheese. Put the bowls into the oven to toast the bread and melt the cheese.

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