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French Onion Soup Gratinee

More like Love in a bowl, this soup is actually very simple to make, it just takes some time to really develop the flavours.  It is an excellent choice for a dinner party as you can make the majority of it up to 3 days ahead.   Love that.
Course Soup
Cuisine French
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours 9 minutes
Servings 12 cups
Author loveonaplate

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 5  large onions thinly sliced
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 6 cups chicken broth low sodium if using canned
  • 1 3/4 cups beef broth low sodium if using canned
  • 1/4 cup dry sherry or white wine
  • 2 sprigs fresh parsley
  • 1 sprig fresh thyme
  • 1 whole bay leaf
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • salt optional
  • black pepper -- freshly ground to taste
  • *** TOPPING ***
  • 1 baguette   cut on the bias into 3/4 inch slices
  • 4 1/2 ounces Swiss cheese grated
  • 3 ounces Asiago cheese grated

Instructions

  • 1. Melt butter in large  Dutch oven over medium high heat; add sliced onions and 1/2 teaspoon salt and stir to coat onions thoroughly with butter.  You can also use your Crock pot which I have been doing lately as it requires less hands on work and watching.
  • 2. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are reduced and syrupy about 40-45 minutes.  If using the Crock Pot you will need to let the onions cook on high for about 2 hours.
  • 3. Stir in the chicken and beef broths*, sherry, parsley, thyme, and bay leaf, scraping pot bottom with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits, and bring to a simmer.  If you've caramelized your onions in the crock pot, now is the time to place them into a large Dutch oven, and allow them to cook for a few minutes to allow them to brown up just a little, then add in all remaining ingredients.
  • 4. Simmer to build flavors, about 20 minutes, and discard herbs.
  • 5. Stir in balsamic vinegar and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.
  • 6. To serve, adjust oven rack to upper middle position; heat broiler.
  • 7. Set serving bowls on baking sheet and fill each with about 1 1/2 cups
  • soup.
  • 8. Top each bowl with 2 baguette slices and sprinkle with Swiss and
  • Asiago cheeses.
  • 9. Place oven proof bowls on a baking sheet, and broil on low until well
  • browned and bubbly, about 10 minutes.

Notes

A couple of notes about choosing your ingredients for this recipe.  Because it such a pure soup, you can really taste the quality of ingredients being used.  I highly recommend using homemade broth if you can, if not canned will work, but BOUILLON will not.  It's simply not rich enough in flavour and overly salty.
Onions, you can use cooking onions, I like to use Sweet Spanish Onions or Vidalia Onions if I have them. I don't recommend Red Onions, as they don't seem to caramelize the same for me -- but you do you, and use whatever you prefer.