French Onion Soup

Ingredients:

5-6 cups thinly sliced yellow onions (3-4 small ones)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat, mostly because it was there)

1/2 cup + dry white wine (I used a chardonnay)

8 cups mushroom stock (low sodium, if you can find it)

2 cups water

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional:

1 to 2 cups (to taste) grated Swiss*

8 to 12 1-inch thick rounds French bread, toasted until hard

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in the bottom of a stock pot over medium to low heat.

2. Add the onions, toss to coat them in oil and cover the pot. Reduce the heat some more, cover, and walk away. No, seriously, go away. The onions don’t need you right now. What they need is a 15 minute break. It’s not you, it’s them.

3. After 15 minutes, uncover the pot, raise the heat to medium-low, and stir in the sugar (it helps draw out the water and helps the caramelization process). Let the onions caramelize for the next 30 or 40 minutes, but make sure to stir them often. If they start crisping, lower the heat. You want them to be dark golden brown, but they have to stay soft.

4. After the onions are fully caramelized, sprinkle the flour over them and cook for about three minutes, stirring the whole time. Next, add the wine. If you used wine in the last step, I still want you to use the full 1/2 cup. There is no such thing as too much wine with your caramelized onions. Also, use the wine to deglaze the bottom of the pot (read: scrape up all the brown bits of flavor from the bottom of the pot).

5. Add the stock and the water slowly, stirring as you go. Once all of it is in, bring the soup to a simmer and let it do it’s thing for another 30-40 minutes, partially covered. Your soup is now done. In fact, it’s delicious. It’s also vegan, so if you don’t eat cheese, please enjoy this amazing soup right now. It’s amazing. For those of you who do eat cheese.

6. Toast your French baguette rounds until they’re hard (but not browned, so set them in your toaster on a very low setting and keep an eye on them). Take a stick of butter/margarine and lightly coat both sides of each round.

7. Preheat the oven to 325F. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and place your oven-proof bowls on it. Ladle some boiling soup into them.

8. Top each bowl with as many slices of bread as you will fit, and cover those with cheese( see cheese note above). Place in the oven for 20 minutes, then put it on broil for an additional three, or until the cheese is bubbling and starting to brown.

9. Remove the bowls from the oven If you want, sprinkle on dried oregano or herbs de Provence.

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