French Onion Soup

Worries go down better with soup.

Jewish proverb

Soup and stew recipes are the traditional first courses in formal French meals and a light entree for casual fare.

Cook's Notes:The secret to making good French soup is in caramelizing the onions and patience. The recipe takes an hour but well worth the wait.

Caramelizing the onions means cooking them slowly over low heat until they are soft and golden brown. When the natural sugars from the onions are released then the onions caramelize. If the onions start to brown on one side instead of browning evenly, you can add a few drops of water to the pan and give onions a good stir. Traditional French Onion soup is served topped with croutons made from French baguette or bread slices topped with cheese and broiled for 1-2 minutes. Some recipes called for Worcestershire sauce but I omitted it.
This recipe is adapted from Tyler Florence (Food Network)recipe and one from my sister
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 cups sliced sweet onions in chunks or strips
• 1/4 tsp.salt
• 4 cans of beef broth (use low salt) or 2 cans chicken broth and 2 cans beef broth 
• 3 TB. flour
• 1 TB. tomato puree
• 1 cup dry red wine or 1 cup dry white wine
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 sprigs of thyme minced or 2 tsp. herbes de provence
• 2 minced cloves
• salt and pepper to taste at end if necessary
• bread slices, Gruyere or Fontina, Parmesan cheese 

Directions:

• Melt butter in soup pot or Dutch oven
• Add onions,thyme or herbes de provence, bay leaves, salt and garlic and stir until onions are translucent about 25 minutes
• Add wine and bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer till wine is evaporated and onions dry about 5 minutes
• Discard thyme and bay leaves
• Dust onions with flour and turn heat down and cook 10 minutes
• Add broth and 1 TB. tomato puree cook 10 minutes
• Toast bread that has been buttered and sprinkled with a bit of garlic salt
• Spoon soup into ovenproof bowls and place on a cookie sheet
• Add on top of soup grilled bread or croutons, grated cheese and then sprinkle with 1 TB. Parmesan cheese on top of that 
• Broil till cheese melts

                                                        Bon Appetit