French Onion Soup

I was out running errands, and when I came back into the apartment I was met with the sweetest, most delicious smell. Seamus was making French Onion Soup! Neither of us had ever made this soup before, but we were just talking about how we don't eat French food very often (because it is so often expensive), and when we saw it in our "Good and Cheap" cookbook, and thought we would give it a try.  I wasn't around when Seamus cut the 6 large onions for this recipe, but I have to think that the delicious smells and tastes were worth the tears!

Seamus used 6 large onions while making this recipe and served it with some stale bread and melted cheese. Perfect!

French Onion Soup

Courtesy of "Good and Cheap" by Leanne Brown

Ingredients

4lb onions, any type 
4 cloves garlic
2 tbsp butter
2 bay leaves
8 cups beef broth
1 and 1/2 cups cheddar, grated

1 tbsp vinegar, any type (optional)
3 tsp salt
6 slices bread

Directions

Chop each onion in half lengthwise, peel them, then cut them into half- moon slices. These big slices are fine since you’re cooking the onions for so long. Slice the garlic as well. Melt the butter in a large pot on medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, and bay leaves. Cover the pot with a lid and leave it for 10 minutes. When you come back, the onions should have released a lot of moisture. Give them a stir. Pour in the vinegar and put the lid back on. Cook for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes. When the onions at the bottom start to stick and turn dark, add a splash of water to unstick them. Don’t worry, the onions aren’t burning, just caramelizing. The water helps lift off the sticky, delicious, sweet part!

Once the onions are very dark and about a quarter the volume they once were, add all the water and a bunch of salt and pepper. Cover the pot again, turn the heat down to low, and let it simmer for another hour. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed. Ladle the soup into bowls. Now it’s time to make cheese toast! If you want classic French onion soup— with the toast directly in the soup, which makes it a bit soggy—place a piece of bread on top of each bowl of soup, sprinkle with cheese, then heat the bowls under your oven’s broiler until the cheese is bubbly.