UPDATE: I flelt this amount of sherry made the soup too sweet. It needs to be reduced to 1/3 cup. I also added 2 tsp. of Better than Boullion beef base to enrich the purchased beef broth.
Okay, I'm a little late today, but I have managed to link all the appropriate blogs to their respective pages! YAY! Yes, I managed to let it slide for three months. Hopefully, I'll keep to a regular monthly schedule . . . starting October 1. ;-P
Today's Foodie Friday is French Onion Soup. I'll confess upfront that I haven't made this recipe--yet. I'm actually planning to make it on Sunday.
And this is a recipe that my kidlet wanted me to make. It turns out my 11-year-old likes French Onion Soup. We discovered it when we were in France--EPCOT'S France, not France France--and were eating at the French pavilion.
For the most part, this soup isn't rocket science. It's very simple to make . . . especially if you like cwying onion tears. I chose this particular recipe because of the dry sherry that is to be added to the stock. Dry sherry--NOT cooking sherry or cream sherry--adds another dimension to many casseroles and soups. The key is not to use so much that it overpowers instead of enhancing.
I don't have a French baguette, but I do have some leftover Tuscan bread. And I have left over Gruyere cheese, not enough, so I'm adding some Swiss that I happen to have.
French Onion Soup
4 Tbls. butter
2 pounds yellow onions, sliced into 1/4-inch circles
1 tsp. sugar
1 Tbls. flour
1/2 cup dry sherry
6 cups beef stock
1 tsp. thyme
Coarse salt and pepper
1 small baguette, sliced crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
8 oz. Gruyere cheese, grated (large holes on box grater), about 3 cups
Melt butter in large heavy pot on medium-low heat. Add the onions and spread out in as thin a layer as possible. Sprinkle with sugar; cook, stirring as needed to keep from sticking, until onions are soft, golden brown and beginning to caramelize, about 1 hour.
Sprinkle the flour over the onions; stir to coat. Add the sherry, beef stock and thyme and bring to a simmer. Cook, partly covered, for about 30 minutes to let the flavors combine. Season with salt and pepper.
Preheat broiler. Lightly toast the bread under broiler, set aside. Ladle the hot soup into 6 ovenproof bowls. Arrange the bowls on a baking pan. Place 1 or 2 slices of toasted bread over each bowl of soup. Sprinkle 1/2 cup grated cheese over the bread in each bowl, and place under the broiler until the cheese is melted and turning brown around the edges. Serve hot.
Enjoy!
