Hey, guys. Today I'm gonna share with you
one of my favorite French recipes.
A classic French onion soup.
Every time we travel to France, I don't feel like
I have arrived until I tuck into some tiny, little
bistro and have a bowl of this soup.
But years ago, I figured out a way to make it myself
and now I can have it any time I want and so can you.
The first thing we're going to do is prep our onions.
Now, the onions are really the star of this show.
So, they do take a little bit of work to prep,
but really, that's the hardest part.
It's not even hard, it's just time consuming.
You want to take about eight medium sized white onions.
You're gonna cut them in half and then cut them
into half moons.
Then, in a large soup pot, you're going to add
some olive oil,
and some butter.
Once the butter is melted, and the oil is hot,
go ahead and add your onions.
To that, you're going to add a teaspoon of salt
and a teaspoon of sugar.
The sugar is just gonna help those onions sweeten up
and caramelize a bit better.
Once your onions reach that stage, you're then going
to add some dry sherry.
I love to add the sherry because it adds a wonderful
sweetness to the soup and will give your soup
a nice depth of flavor, but if you don't drink,
that's okay, you can definitely leave it out
and your soup will still be good.
Then, you're going to add your beef broth.
Now, the beef broth is traditional, but if you are
vegetarian, you could use vegetable stock.
I would just check it for seasoning.
It's probably going to need a little bit more salt
or maybe some herbs as well.
Then, you're going to take four sprigs of thyme.
Tie them up with a little butcher's twine
and drop that in the soup
and then add two bay leaves
and some minced garlic.
You're going to want to put the top
back on your soup pot and let that simmer
just for about 10 minutes.
You want to give the soup a chance to have all
those delicious flavors marry.
Then, when it comes time to serve, you're going to take
a heat safe soup bowl.
Now, if you wanna be traditional, you could use
a traditional French onion soup bowl
or I also like the soup bowls that have little handles
on 'em because that way they're a little easier
to get in and out of the broiler.
But either one will do, just make sure it's heat safe.
Then, you're going to top each soup with some slices
of French bread.
I know it's not very traditional but I do like
to use sourdough bread.
I find that that bread is heartier and holds up a bit better
under the heat of that onion soup.
I also would recommend making sure that
your baguette is at least a day old.
You should pop it in the fridge to keep
because if you leave bread out on the counter,
especially a baguette, the next day,
it's gonna be rock hard and you won't be able to cut it.
If you pop it in your fridge, it will basically hold up
a bit better and it will allow you
to actually slice it the next day.
Top each soup and your bread with some grated
gruyere cheese and at this point, there is no such thing
as too much cheese.
You really can have at it.
The best part of French onion soup is that delicious,
warm, gooey cheese.
So, go ahead and be generous.
Then, transfer your soup bowls to a cookie sheet.
It'll just be easier to pop all of them
under the broiler that way.
Then, you're gonna take your cookie sheet
and pop your soups under the broiler
just until the cheese starts to bubble
and turn golden brown.
Then, when the soups are done, I do like to transfer them
to a dinner plate because they are quite hot
after being under that broiler.
Then, to make them a little extra special,
I like to garnish with a little bit of fresh thyme.
I hope you guys give this one a try.
It's a classic French dish that will have you believing
that you, too, can make this right in your own kitchen
and never have to get on an airplane.
I'll see you guys next week for another
delicious recipe.