French Onion Soup

I went to Souplantation the other day and they had French Onion Soup. No croutons or bread inside, and no cheese melted on top - just the broth and onions. It was so good, and I remembered how much I love French Onion Soup. I'd bought some frozen from Trader Joe's recently, but it was very salty, and something about the taste was off. I could only eat a few spoonfuls.

But the weather has been turning cooler and I wanted soup. I cound this recipe on The Food Network and tried it out. I halved the recipe, and strayed a bit - I used all beef broth instead of chicken stock and veal stock, twice as much thyme, and I left out the crouons and cheese. Next time I'll use half the amount of onion called for - I don't know if the onions I used were too big (about softball size), but I wound up adding another 4 cups of broth. It wound up taking longer than expected since the onions were really juicy and took forever to reduce, but it was delicious.

French Onion Soup
Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, 2003
Show: Emeril Live
Episode: Bistro Cooking

6 tablespoons butter 8 medium size onions, sliced thinly
4 thyme sprigs, leaves stripped
1/2 cup sherry
4 cups brown chicken stock
2 cups veal stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
French bread croutons
2 cups grated Gruyere cheese

In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, add butter and melt over medium heat. Add the onions and lower the heat to medium low. Add the thyme leaves and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions start to turn golden brown, about 25 minutes. Add the sherry and cook until the sherry is almost completely evaporated and the onions are brown, about 15 minutes.

Add the stocks and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and simmer for 30 minutes. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Ladle the soup into 8 oven-proof soup bowls. Place the soup bowls on a sheet pan. Place the croutons on top of the soup, to cover. Top each bowl with 1/2 cup grated cheese. Place in the oven and cook until the cheese is golden brown and bubbly, about 10 minutes.