Hey there Honey's and New-Bees!

Today I want to talk about one of my favourite things to cook and eat, French Onion Soup! Years ago, as I was just starting to explore the wonderful world of cooking, I wanted to make something a little ‘fancier’,  so I tried my hand at making French Onion Soup. For me French Onion Soup was always the “fancy” soup you order at restaurants, and I assumed that it would be incredibly difficult to make – WOW was I wrong! Needless to say I was shocked at how easy it was, and most importantly it was a hit with my Romeo and has continued to be a hit with everyone I serve it to. This dish really ignited a spark within me; it was from that moment on that I became confident in my cooking abilities, and gained the courage to continue learning and trying things that I had previously thought were “out of my league”, cooking-wise.

Fast-forward eight years, and  French Onion Soup is still a household favourite! Over the years I’ve made adjustments, modified, and added to my original recipe; essentially the soup has followed me and grown with me over the years, and in later posts I will share with you some of the variations I’ve concocted – but today let’s start with the basics and learn the foundations to make a lovely, traditional, French Onion Soup.

So without further ado, let’s get cookin !! 🙂

Let’s start by getting out and chopping up all your onions (about 3 onions per person). You can use any kind of onion, however, I prefer to use a variety (usually a combo of red onion, and sweet onion) but the choice is completely up to you, and/or based on what you have on hand. One of the big perks of French Onion Soup is that it’s relatively cheap to make, and you probably already have all the necessary ingredients on hand anyway, so no need to rush out to the grocery store after work – just use what you already have among your pantry staples.

Chop up about 75% of your onions which you will caramelize,  then mince the remaining 25% and put them aside for now; you will add them in a little later on and they will add a little bit of texture to your soup.

Pre-heat your Dutch Oven or large pot for about 2-4 minutes, then add  a generous amount of unsalted butter and good quality olive oil. Once the butter has completely melted, add the roughly chopped onions with a pinch of salt and stir to make sure the onions get evenly coated with the butter and oil, and now you have started caramelizing your onions. Keep your stove on medium heat and continue to stir every 3-5 minutes until you start to notice little brown bits starting to stick on the bottom of your pan.

Once your onions have reduced to about half their size  start stirring more frequently, and scrape up the brown bits with your wooden spoon (do not use a metal spoon for this, especially if you are using cast iron enamel, you will RUIN your pot). Don’t worry about your burning your pan, everything will come off once you add a little liquid later on 😊. Keep stirring until your onions have significantly reduced, and are a deep golden brown, then mix in your balsamic vinegar, garlic, marjoram and bay.

I know this may seem a little long and time consuming but it is well worth it; caramelizing your onions is not only one of the most important steps when making French Onion Soup, but an important culinary skill to know and is a crucial step for many dishes. It’s also a great way to jazz up all kinds of other dishes – add them to a burger, top them on a steak, or even just serve them on the side with some bread ! They are a real crowd pleaser 😋 !

Continue to stir your onions with the seasoning making sure the seasons get evenly distributed and cook for a 2-3 minutes, you don’t want to go much longer than that as you want to make sure your garlic doesn’t burn. Add your red wine and stir consistently for about 5 minutes while the onions simmer in the wine.

At this point you’ll notice that a lot of the brown onions bits stuck on the bottom of your pot will come right up (those bits add a lot of flavour) and that there’ll be a lot of steam coming off the pot as the alcohol burns off. Remember when selecting wine for cooking select something you’d actually drink on it’s own, as the point of using wine while cooking is to add flavour to your dish, as the alcohol evaporates only the flavour of the wine becomes concentrated in your dish.

Let the onions simmer in the wine for about 5 minutes, then gradually and evenly sprinkle your flour over the onions, stir well and make the onions are evenly coated and continue to stir for about 5 minutes or until the flour gives off a slightly toasted aroma, the gradually add your beef stock. Bring your soup to a boil  add remianing onions and lower the heat and let soup simmer for about 15-20 minutes.

While your soup is simmering grate your cheese (not too fine, otherwise the cheese will melt almost instantly and actually dissolve into your soups, and you won’t get that thick layer on top), and toast your slices of baguette.

Before you serve mix about 2 handfuls of cheese to your soup, let the cheese melt then ladle the soup into your french onion soup bowls, top each with a baguette and a generous amount of cheese then broil for about 3-4 minute and VOILA! You’ve just made your own French Onion Soup!!!!

Lastly, your soup (and bowls, of course) will be VERY hot when you take it out of the oven, so you  might want to wait several minutes (if you can resist) before serving! So take a couple minutes to sit back, relax then enjoy your french onion soup!

ENJOY!