French Onion Soup

Nice day yesterday cool and breezy. Mackenzie was coming over with a pal I have several very large onions from Brenda's folks that were getting soft so I made French Onion Soup. The hardest part is cooking the onions so I got an early start.

I had 3 large and 1 medium onion, halved and chopped. I used every bit leaving only the root end.

I began the cooking on the stove top to soften them up a bit before a long stint in a hot oven to caramelize them to a soupy brown syrup. To this I added the rest of the ingredients and some fresh herbs from my yard. Topped with toasted croutons and Gruyere it made for a satisfying meal. I had made some chicken wings also so I served them on the side. Delish!

French Onion Soup

There are a lot of variations out there but the premise is always the same. A savory broth with falling apart onions in it.

3 very large or 6 medium onions, sliced in half moons about 1/4 inch thick.
3 tbs butter
1 tbs Salt
3 tbs flour
1 quart or more of Chicken  Broth
1 cup white wine or red your choice
1 can Beef Consume
4 sprigs fresh thyme

I used a cast iron pot and melted the butter. I cooked the onions with the salt till they became soft and had a lot of liquid, about 20-30 minutes. I let these simmer covered for an hour covered.

I heated the oven to 400 and placed the pot in the over with the lid ajar to let some of the steam escape for another hour, stirred them then let them cook till they were very golden brown another 20 minute to an hour.

Back on the stove top I added the wine and reduced it then added the flour and cooked the raw taste from it. In went the chicken broth and thyme. Once it came to a simmer I grated 1 large clove of garlic into the mix,  let it go for an hour, tasting to adjust the seasoning, adding pepper and more salt, fishing out the thyme and discarding.  Ready to serve.