French Onion Soup

I love French onion soup.  I order it every chance I get when dining out.  But I hadn't made it in years.  The reason:  the last recipe I used (which was absolutely out of this world) was a day-long process which including roasting beef bones.  It was in the days when grocery stores still had real butchers, not just packaged meat and you could order things like bones.

But I just had a craving for it the other day and found this Tyler Florence recipe on-line.   It's fast, easy, and absolutely delicious.  I'm listing the recipe as I found it, but next time I will cut the butter in half....it was a bit rich for my tastes.  I also took a shortcut and used the boxed Swanson's beef broth, although if you happen to have any homemade on hand, here's a great excuse to use it!

FRENCH ONION SOUP (Serves 4-6)

1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped (2 tsp)
2 bay leaves
2 fresh thyme sprigs
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 cup red wine, about 1/2 bottle
3 heaping Tbsp AP flour
2 quarts beef broth
slices of baguette bread
1/2 pound grated Gruyere or Swiss cheese

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the onions, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and S&P and cook until the onions are very soft and caramelized, about 25 minutes.  Add the wine, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the wine has evaporated and the onions are dry, about 5 minutes.  Discard the bay leaves and thyme sprigs.  Dust the onions with the flour and give them a stir.  Turn the heat down to medium low so the flour doesn't burn, and cook for 10 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste.  Now add the beef broth, bring the soup back to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes.  Season, to taste, with S&P.

When you're ready to eat, preheat the broiler.  Arrange the baguette slices on a baking sheet in a single layer.  Sprinkle the slices with the cheese and broil until bubbly and golden brown, 3-5 minutes.

Ladle the soup in bowls and float the bread slices on top.

Alternate Method:  Ladle the soup into bowls, top each with slices of bread and top with cheese.  Put the bowls into the oven to toast the bread and melt the cheese.