French Onion Soup!

Cook this up over V-day weekend for the caveman and I because he's been craving French Onion soup for a while. We both agreed that we won't/don't go silly overboard with these Hallmark holidays BUT we will find an excuse to eat good food. Luckily this year, V-day fell under a 3 day weekend, paired with President's Day. Now that's something to celebrate about, one more day of weekend!

Making French Onion soup was somewhat 2 fold. It's true he's been craving it so it'd be something nice but also because I've never made it before (or sadly ever had any before either) so it was going to be a new and fun challenge plus who to better judge the results than someone who enjoys it right? About 5 You Tube videos and websites later, I was set to go!

It's pretty easy to make, the only thing that takes forever is chopping of the onions and cooking that down...took about 30 minutes. If you prep all the stuff beforehand, there's nothing to it! I have to say, pretty darn good for having no idea what I'm after. I'm going to take the lack of complaints and the empty soup bowls as a win.

Oh! You know what else is a win? Goodwill! The day prior we decided to pop our heads into a Goodwill to chance our luck to see if we'd find any hidden treasures. While the store is usually full of randomness, there's some really awesome finds if you know what you're looking at. I wanted some oven safe soup bowls (for this occasion specifically) decided to see if fate will let me find some otherwise I was going to be creative with my soup. Not only did I find the perfect soup bowls (Crate & Barrel!) BUT I got them for dirt cheap! $1.25 for two bowls that normally sell for $5-6 each. A win indeed.
 

French Onion Soup
Ingredients:

• 1 stick of butter
• 4 onions, sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, smashed/chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 fresh sprigs of thyme
• 1 cup of red (or white) wine
• 3 generous tbsp of flour
• 8 cups of beef broth (or 4 cups of chicken, 4 cups of beef)
• 2 tbsp brandy (optional, add with broth )
• 1 baguette, sliced (garlic butter toasted)
• 1/2 lb grated Gruyere
• salt and pepper to taste

Procedures:

1. In a large stock pot, melt butter and cook onions with thyme and bay leaves until onions are soft and caramelized (about 25 minutes)
2. Add in wine, bring to boil until wine is evaporated, then dust onions with flour, and cook for an additional 10 minutes
3. Add in broth, simmer for 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Ladle soup into some oven safe soup bowls, top soup with slice of toasted baguette and top with cheese
5. Bake at 375F until cheese is melted and golden.