I made French Onion Soup today, and the whole house still smells like it. Coming in from outside makes your stomach growl, and it was super easy!
French Onion Soup
9 Medium Yellow Onions, sliced
3 tbsp butter
salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried sage
1 tbsp dried parsley
1/2 cup white wine
32 oz Beef Stock
Crusty bread
Gruyere or Swiss cheese
Equipment: I used a 16" electric skillet because the temperature control is awesome, but a soup pot on medium heat would work well, too. If you have a mandolin in your kitchen, this is the time to use it, otherwise it'll take ages to get all the onions cut, and if you're like me you'll have to run out of the room and cry like a baby every 2 minutes. A mandolin makes the slicing fast enough that I can get almost all the onions finished before I break down.
Set the electric skillet on 300F (or set your stove on medium with a large soup pot) and melt the butter in the bottom. Slice the onions into thin rings-- I went for about 1/8". Put about an inch deep layer of onion slices in your cooking vessel, sprinkle with a little salt, and repeat until you're out of onions. If you use a skillet, it will probably get very full, but that's okay! Onions cook down a lot.
Now the hard part: Wait about 15-20 minutes-- I use this time to go cry and wash my eyes. Whatever you do during that time, don't stir the onions, and don't worry if you think they're burning... because they will burn. After that 15 minutes you can stir the onions, and the bottom layer will be brown with spots of burnt and caramelized onion. Add your minced garlic and keep cooking the onions, stirring occasionally, until they're done to your taste. Most recipes tell you to cook them until they're all mahogany-brown and caramelized, but I find that makes the soup way too sweet for my tastes-- I call it when they're about halfway caramelized.
Now deglaze the pan with the wine, which is fancy chef talk for pouring it in there and making sure you scrape the burnt bits off the bottom and mix them with the wine. Cook 5-10 more minutes to let most of the wine evaporate and then add the herbs and beef stock and turn down to low. Simmer for at least 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. I usually get to this point really early and let it simmer for an hour or more, because I hate having dinner late.
While the soup's simmering, move an oven rack to the top third of your oven. You might want to check that your soup bowls will fit at this point, because it's a pain adjusting that rack again after you've had the broiler on. Once that's done, set the broiler for 500F. Slice pieces of crusty bread and place them on a baking sheet, then place them under the broiler. Watch carefully, because it won't take them long to toast, and once they toast they'll burn in no time.
Now dish up your soup into oven-safe serving bowls-- I recommend putting the bowls on your baking sheet, in case of overflow and because it's just plain easier to get them in and out of the oven-- and put the bread toasted-side down on top. Sprinkle with the shredded cheese and put back under the broiler until the cheese is bubbly and browned.
Finally, the best part... eating!
