French Onion Soup

It's the dead of summer, an 80 degree day and what a great day to make soup?  This was all inspired by a block of this delicious steakhouse onion Havarti cheese we picked up one night for a cheese platter.  It was an instant "we (as in you) need to make french onion soup" from my boyfriend.  And so I did.  This soup was so good, though I could wait and got a two day burner on my tongue.  So be careful!

I found the good thing about this soup is since it's so simple, adding flavor is really easy.  I was lucky enough to have a vidalia onion wine made by a co-worker of mine to add another depth of flavor. You'll notice in my recipe that it calls for dry white wine because I am assuming that onion wine is a hard one to come by.  I also use a mix on onions for different textures and each one carries its own flavor profile helping to add, again, more flavor!

Ingredients

2lbs onions, mixed, yellow, red, shallots, vidalia

2-3 minced garlic cloves

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp olive oil 

2 tbsp flour 

1-2 tsp Worcestershire sauce  (to your tastes)

1/2c dry white wine or sherry 

1-32oz container beef stock/broth 

2 bay leaves 

1/8 tsp or A sprig of fresh thyme 

1/8 tsp ground or a sprig of fresh sage  (optional, some don't like)

Salt and pepper

Shredded cheese of your choosing 

Toasted crustinis or french bread

Instructions

Heat oil and butter in heavy bottom pot over medium heat, sauté onions until translucent and nicely browned.  

Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds longer, then add the flour and cook another 30 seconds to a minute.

Add Worcestershire, wine, broth and herbs all at once.  You can also add the salt and pepper here.

Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 60-90 minutes. 

Remove the herbs and fill oven safe bowls or crocks.  Top with the toasted bread, then cheese and broil till bubbly, about 3 minutes.

                                             

 Then enjoy the heck out of it!