The other day I got off the bus and it was pouring. I knew I was coming home to an empty house and very empty kitchen soaking wet. I wanted some serious gourmet comfort food for dinner. For me, that is French Onion Soup. I stopped by the grocery store and bought a bag of onions, garlic and beef consomme and broth, hoping that was all I needed! Thankfully I had enough ingredients at home to make it work.
Did I have a particular recipe in mind? No. Not at all. I had no idea where to begin and I absolutely had to work with the ingredients I had because I was not going out on that stormy day again. So I turned to some of my favourite Food Network friends: Paula Deen, Anthony Sedlak and Laura Calder.
This is what I like to do: print out a few recipes of the same dish, study them, compare cooking techniques and then come up with my own. Thankfully I remembered to write down the recipe as I went. Feel free to change it to suit your foodie style or pantry.
Ingredients
8 onions, thinly sliced
3 tbsp of butter
2 thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp kosher slat
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp of brandy (optional)
1/2 cup white wine (or red, whatever you got)
2 cans/cups of beef consomme
4 cups/1 large carton of beef stock
Bread, toasted
1/4 cup of Gruyere and mozzarella cheese, grated
The hardest part is slicing through all of those onions! My knife needs sharpening, silly me losing tears over eight small cooking onions. I melted the butter in a large Dutch oven/stock pot over medium high heat and added the onion, thyme, bay leaves, salt and garlic. Stir occasionally until they go golden and soft.
Add the brady, wine, consomme and broth. Simmer uncovered for 45 minutes. Remove bay leaf and thyme. Check seasoning and add some cracked black pepper.
Pour into an individual-sized oven-proof container, I used a large ramekin container. Make sure there is a good amount of soup, you want as much soup as bread and cheese. Or at least I do! Toast up a piece of bread and slice it to fit the container. I have a cutter but you can just use a knife.
Put the piece of bread on top and cover with the Gruyere and mozzarella cheese. Broil until the cheese is melty and golden brown:
Wowee! This soup seriously tasted like it came from a restaurant. If you can get through all that onion chopping and have the time for the soup to sit and brew on the stove, this recipe is for you. It is not difficult or complicated, just a little time consuming. In fact I was shocked at how easy it really was and what a payoff, the taste is totally worth it.
Perfect for those cold days ahead, true comfort food.
I LOVE French onion soup and yours looks absolutely delicious!
I really like your writing/sharing style here. Sometimes I get overwhelmed about whether or not I’m doing something “just right”. But you give me faith that the way I make french onion soup is okay, too! Because basically I do the same thing…look at other recipes, and mold and shape it to what I have on hand. This makes me want to go buy a bag of onions today! Yum.
ow wow. Swoon. That looks amazing! Great pictures:)
Perfect for this time of year…I’m always looking for something during hockey season to feed my son and us that’s hot and filling and this would be it!! Thanks!
Your French Onion Soup looks amazing and delicious! I love French Onion Soup, I will definitely have to try your recipe for it.
It looks so pretty and inviting!
End result is jaw dropping, there’s a restaurant (quite fancy) around my area that makes it this way.
Here’s a recipe for quick french onion soup, although definitely not as good as yours.
I love making French Onion Soup, so comfort food. I moved from NS to BC. I was living there for 3 yrs. Love your blog.
Just the other day I was thinking of making tomato soup with basil. It getting more like soup weather here.
I copied your recipe.
Coffee is on.
Yum. I like the idea of adding a splash of brandy to this. Onion soup is one of my favorites and some Cognac is going in my next batch. Thanks for the idea.
Hi there, just popped over from um – I forget where – sorry! But had to comment on this post. This is my husband’s ultimate favorite meal and I made it at least twice a month last fall, no kidding. One trick I found is to add a little (tsp) sugar to the onions; it seems to help with the caramelizing process of the onions getting brown and sweet. I need to be brave and try the broiler method – usually I do this Panera style, topping it with homemade croutons and shaved cheese. Sometimes I do the onions at night, stick them in my crockpot in the fridge, add the broth/bay leaf etc. in the morning and leave it go for 4-6 hours. So I guess I know what I’m making for lunch on SUnday now!
Love your blog. I am finally getting the time to indulge my foodie nature!
your soup looks great I love french onion soup can’t wait to try it out.
i get the french onion soup. it is one of my favorites. but could you explain cold rainy soup weather to me? i am stuck in the endless 95 or more degree summer! i want to move back to canada!