French Onion Soup

I've made several versions of onion soup before, including one that used several different kinds of 'onions,' e.g.,  shallots, garlic, and scallions. I still think the best one is the simplest one, using just plain ol' sliced yellow onions sauteed in butter and olive oil until super caramelized, and then cooked in light chicken broth and a little beef base, seasoned with fresh thyme & bay leaves, and a touch of white wine. The following recipe is one I adapted from The Best International Recipe cookbook by the editors of Cook's Illustrated.

Ingredients:
3 tbsp. unsalted butter
3 tbsp. olive oil
5 large yellow onions, halved & thinly sliced
1 tsp. salt
3 cups water
10 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 tbsp. beef base

2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme, tied together with kitchen twine (or substitute with 1 tsp. dried thyme)
3 fresh bay leaves (or 2 dried leaves)
1/2 cup dry white wine or dry sherry
1/2 tsp. black pepper
French bread or baguette
Swiss or Gruyere cheese

1. Melt butter with olive oil in a large stock pot over medium high heat. Add sliced onions, season with 1 tsp. salt & stir well. Cover and let onions sweat for about 10 minutes until translucent. 

2. Remove cover, and continue cooking until most of liquid has evaporated, stirring occasionally. 

3. Reduce heat to low and cook for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally and scraping up any brown bits that form on the bottom of the pan (if needed, you can deglaze the onions with a small amount of water a couple times during the long cooking period). Cook until onions are very soft, very reduced and have turned a deep brown color. 

4. Add the chicken broth, beef base, Worcestershire sauce, water, white wine, black pepper, thyme and bay leaf. Bring up to a boil, lower heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. Discard the thyme & bay leaves. Turn off heat, taste and season with additional salt and/or pepper if needed. 

5. Serve piping hot. If you like French bread and cheese on top, just heat up your broiler, adjust the shelves to about 6" from the top, ladle soup into broiler-proof bowls, top with a slice of bread sprinkled with grated cheese or cheese slices.  Broil until cheese is brown & soup is bubbly, about 5-10 minutes. Cool 5 minutes before serving. 

If you don't want to go through the hassle of broiling, just place a slice of cheese on the bottom of each serving bowl, ladle the soup over, then top with a slice of toasted baguette. As with many soups & stews, this will taste better the next day.

Fresh thyme, bay leaves, black pepper, 5 onions, sliced, light chicken broth, white wine.

Melt butter with olive oil in a large pan over medium high heat.

Stir in onions with 1 tsp. salt.

Cover and cook 10 minutes or until onions are translucent.

Remove cover and cook until all of liquid has evaporated. Reduce heat to low and cook about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally and scraping up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan.

You can deglaze the onions with a little water once or twice during the browning process.

The browner the onions get, the more flavorful the soup will be.

Add water, chicken broth, beef base and Worcestershire sauce.

Then add the thyme, bay leaves, and black pepper. 

Add 1/4 cup of dry wine or sherry. Simmer on low for 30 minutes.

Ladle into individual serving bowls.

Top with toasted French bread & melted Swiss or Gruyere cheese.