Here is a French Onion Soup recipe that my family has adapted over the years. The recipe is for two bowls of soup. One main difference between American and French recipes is that American recipes tend to measure every ingredient exactly, whereas French recipes are less precise and you modify the ingredients to your particular taste. This is why some of the ingredients below do not have precise measurements. Enjoy!
Ingredients
3 large yellow onions, cut in half length-wise then thinly sliced
6 cups of beef stock
1-2 Tbs of Better Than Bouillon Roasted Beef Base
Light tasting olive oil
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Freshly ground gourmet pepper blend (basic black pepper also works)
Sea salt
2 bay leaves
Dried thyme (approx. 1-2 tsp)
Baguette, or whole wheat sandwich bread (approx. 2-3 slices)
Grated gruyere or swiss cheese (approx. 1 1/2 – 2 cups)
Shredded mozzarella cheese (approx. 1 cup)
Grated parmesan cheese
Oven safe bowls (we use Corningware, see picture above)
Drizzle some light tasting olive oil onto the bottom of a large pot (we use a Le Creuset 5 1/2 quart dutch oven). Turn the pot on to medium to medium-high heat. Add the sliced onions and grind some salt and pepper on them. Sauté the onions until carmelized, stirring every few minutes. Add more olive oil as needed to keep the bottom of the pot moist. After a few minutes, as the onions begin to cook, sprinkle some onion powder and garlic powder over them. Cooking the onions until they are nicely carmelized will take about 20 to 30 minutes, depending on how hot your stove is and how frequently you stir the onions (the higher the heat, the more often you will need to stir them).
Add the beef stock and a tablespoon of the Better Than Bouillon Roasted Beef Base. Sprinkle in a little more onion powder and garlic powder. Let the soup heat back up until it is nearly simmering. Stir the soup to make sure that the beef base is fully dissolved and incorporated. Taste the broth. Add a little more salt, pepper and another tablespoon of the Better Than Bouillon Roasted Beef Base if desired. Add a couple bay leaves and a generous sprinkling of dried thyme. Being generous with the thyme gives the soup a great flavor (see photo below). Cook until the soup simmers, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and let simmer for 15-20 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Taste the soup again and add salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and more beef base if desired. This is the key to having a wonderful soup; tasting as you go!
Toast the bread in a toaster. If you are using a baguette, slice it into slices that fit in your toaster, about bagel thickness. Once toasted, cut the bread to be no larger than about one inch square. Baguette slices may need one or two cuts; sometimes it’s easiest to just quarter them.
Place the oven safe bowls on a thick baking sheet covered with aluminum foil. Ladle the soup into the bowls.
Add the toasted bread on top, covering the soup entirely.
Cover the toasted bread with a generous portion of the gruyere or swiss cheese. Add some shredded mozzarella on top of that. Finally, sprinkle on a little shredded parmesan. Now it’s ready for the oven!
Broil the soup in the oven for 5-10 minutes, keeping a close eye on it, until the cheese on top is a nice golden brown. Remove the soup and let it sit for 5-10 minutes.
And finally, enjoy with your favorite beverage!
