French onion soup

I was a little bit down this week. It started to be very dark and cold outside, and it rained endlessly. That really got to me. That’s why I decided to challenge myself in the kitchen and cook something extra nice today. I wanted something that goes well with a nice glass of red wine… to make sure the mood is set right for the weekend. And this is what I came up with: French onion soup.

For me it is a perfect recipe for the cold days and with lots of melted cheese it surely brings back a smile on my face. As I never cooked an onion soup before, I researched a bit online and the ingredients for most recipes are fairly similar. The French seem to be very particular on the cheese that should be used (Gruyere) but as I could not get it I used Cheddar.

After letting all my emotions out while cutting the onions, the soup almost cooked itself and it smelled and tasted absolutely yummy.

Level: Medium | Time: 60 minutes | serves 4

Ingredients

A good knob of butter

2 gloves of garlic, finely sliced

500-600 ml of good quality chicken stock

4 big white onions

1 glass of red wine

Cheese, grated (Gruyere would be great but I could not get it so I used cheddar.)

White bread such as baguette, roasted and cut into small pieces (crouton like)

2 TS of flour

2 Bay leaves, 2-3 TS of dried Thyme

Salt and Pepper

Preparation

1. Peel and cut the onions into thin rings and finely chop the garlic.
2. Melt the butter on a medium to low heat and add the onions and garlic to a medium-sized pot. If you have one, use one a heavy stewing pot.
3. It will take about 20 minutes until the onions cook down. Make sure that they don’t burn.
4. Now, add in the glass of wine and keep stirring for another 10 minutes.
5. When the wine has reduced, add 2 TS of flour, salt and pepper, the herbs and the stock, and allow the soup to cook on a low heat for another 20-30 minutes.
6. To serve: Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees using the top heat setting. Ladle the soup into a bowl, add the pieces of bread and cover it with grated cheese. Bake for 5 minutes until the cheese has melted and is bubbly and golden.

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