French Onion Soup- Secret Recipe Club

*Be sure to stop by my E-Cookbook Sneak peek and giveaway*

I am happy to be posting my very first Secret Recipe Club recipe.  Have you heard of it?

Basically, SRC is a group of bloggers who get together once a month. We’re all assigned a blog and asked to pick out a recipe from that blog. We make the recipe, tweaking things here and there, as we see fit, then, there’s this big reveal. The entire thing is a secret until our day comes around. It’s oh so exciting.  Seriously, it is. I’ve been waiting weeks for this first reveal and I’m not the most patient person.

I was assigned Erin’s Blog of Easy.Everyday.Eats.  I had quite the time trying to figure out which recipe to make.  Everything looks so good, her photography is amazing.  Check out these,  and this, and I can’t not mention these, I am so making these.

You see my dilemma.  ltimately, I decided on making her french onion soup.  A yummy recipe I am so glad I finally tackled. I made quite a few changes, just for the fact of using ingredients that I had on hand, and could easily find in our small town.  This soup was, in fact delicious, and I will be making it again for sure.  Thanks Erin for sharing such a yummy recipe.

Ingredients: 2 purple onions, 4 sweet onions, 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon butter, 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more as needed, 1/2 cup merlot wine, 4 to 5 bay leaves, 2 cloves garlic, minced, 1/2 teaspoon thyme, 10 cups chicken stock, 1 french loaf, about 24 slices, 1 clove garlic, cut lengthwise, 12-ounces mozzarella cheese, grated

I didn’t have any sherry so I used one of my favorite everyday drinking wines.

I used 2 purple onions and 4 sweet onions.

Remove the ends of the onions and cut into thin strips.

Add all of them to a large stock pot that’s coated with oil and butter.

Add half a tablespoon of salt.

Cover with lid and let onions sweat for about 15 minutes on medium heat.

Then remove the lid and let the onions cook low and slow.

you may have to turn the heat up a bit for them to start browning.

This will take about 1 hour, stirring every 10 minutes or so.

See that color and the brown bits on the bottom, perfect.

Then add in the wine,

and let it cook off a little.

Then add all of the chicken stock.

The garlic, bay leaves and thyme.

Bring to a boil and then let simmer for about 1 hour.

About 15 minutes before the soup is ready, slice the french loaf.

Place each piece on a sheet pan.

and brown both sides under the broiler.

Then rub a sliced garlic clove over each piece

top with cheese and broil until melted and browned.

Serve toasted cheese with soup.

and enjoy.

Print This Recipe

French Onion Soup

adapted by Easy.Everyday.Eats

6 large yellow onions

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more as needed

1/2 cup merlot wine

4 to 5 bay leaves

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon thyme

10 cups chicken stock

1 french loaf, about 24 slices

1 clove garlic, cut lengthwise

12-ounces mozzarella cheese, grated

Coat a large deep pot with olive oil.  Cut the onions in thin slices from stem to root end and add them to the pot.  Sprinkle generously with salt.  Bring the pan to a medium heat. Stir the onions to coat with oil.  The onions will almost come to the top of the pan.  Don’t worry!  They will quickly reduce down to a small amount.  Cover the pot and sweat for about 15 minutes.  Remove the lid and let the onions cook low and slow to really develop their rich dark brown color and sweet flavor, at least an hour to an hour and a half.  (If the onions are too watery you may have to turn the heat to medium for awhile to cook off some of the water so the onions can caramelize.)Once they have reached the caramelized stage, add the Merlot and cook until the wine has reduced by half, working up the bits of brown that have developed in the bottom of the pan.  Add the bay leaves, thyme, garlic and chicken stock.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for at least 1 hour.  Taste and season to make sure the soup has developed a full flavor, it may need a generous amount of more salt.

Cut the baguette loaf into small slices and arrange on a cookie sheet.  Toast baguette on each side under the broiler until lightly browned.  Cut one clove garlic in half.  Take the cut edge and rub on the top of each baguette slice.  Top with a heaping pile of grated cheese.  Return to the broiler until the cheese is melted and lightly browned and bubbling.

To serve, fill bowls three quarters of the way full with the onion soup and top with two toasted baguette slices.