1 large Yellow Onion
1 large Red Onion
half a stick of butter (quarter cup)
a few Tablespoons of olive oil
Kosher Salt
Fresh Cracked Black Pepper to taste
1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 qt. Beef Stock or Beef Broth
half cup of Red Wine (Cheap bottle of Pinot Nior or Zinfindal)
4 slices of white artisan bread toasted and bone dry
8 slices of Swiss Cheese
4 slices of Provolone Cheese
Slice Onions thinly and put into a large heavy bottom pot with butter and olive oil. Sprinkle a generous amount of kosher salt over the onions to help them sweat out most of their moisture. Add black pepper and red pepper flakes. Cook onions until caramelized, this should take about 35-45 minutes. Start with med high heat and then turn the heat down once the onions start to break down well. Remember to stir often. This step should not be rushed because the onions can burn which would make them bitter.
Now is a good time to take your bread slices and pop them into a 250 degree oven for about 20 minutes. The toasts need to be bone dry so they don't break apart in the soup.
Once the onions reach a desirable level of caramelization, deglaze the pot with a half a cup of red wine. Cook for a couple minutes to allow the onions to absorb most of the wine.
The toasts should be out of the oven by now.
Now add the full quart of Beef Stock to the onions. Taste the soup after the mixture has reached a simmer. If it is too salty, add some water, probably about a cup. If it's seasoned well enough for your liking, leave it alone.
Let the soup simmer for about 10 minutes so all those flavors have time to marry.
Take the soup off of the heat and ladle into bowls. I like shallow cereal bowls so that the toast floats nicely.
Put bowls onto a cookie sheet so there are no spills in the oven. Top each soup with a toast and 2 slices of swiss cheese and 1 slice of provolone cheese. Make sure some of the cheese is touching the edge of the bowl so it gets nice and crispy. Turn your broiler on in the oven and place soups into oven. Broil soup for about 2 minutes or until the cheese is nice a bubbly with light brown spots.
Wait about 5 minutes before serving.
Enjoy! :)
I really love French onion soup because it really sticks to your ribs and it's super cheap to make. When you serve this to guests they really feel like they are getting a super fancy meal. I made this soup for some friends and they didn't really want to eat it because it didn't sound very good to them, and they only had it at mediocre restaurants. After I force fed them my French onion soup, they have changed their tune and pretty much request it weekly.
I got my French Onion Soup passion in New York City. I had been watching Food Network like an addict and they had recently done a show about french onion soup and it sounded really good. Of course I ate my way through New York while I was there. I would stop at every street vendor that had a long line and would order whatever I saw people walking away with, because they live there, they must know what is good. I would share my portion with my husband to both save money and to ensure that I would have enough room for food again when we inevitably would stop at another street vendor cart in a few blocks. I ate SO much pizza, but never enough, hot dogs, cheese steaks, pretzels, beagles with schmear, falafel, any kind of skewer... I was only there for 3 days... anyway back to soup...
The reason for the journey to the Big Apple was to perform in Carnegie Hall with my college wind ensemble. I play Trombone and I use to be pretty good at it. Between our warm up and performance at Carnegie we had about an hour and a half off. Of course that means eat something, so I don't throw up from nervousness. There was a little Deli across the street called Carnegie Deli, which interested me. I looked over the entire menu and wanted everything on it. I knew I was going to eat dinner in a few hours, so I didn't want to eat too much. I remembered the french onion soup show on food network so I ordered that. I thought if I was going to have French onion soup anywhere, it needed to be here. I also had some bad experiences with French onion soups at mediocre restaurants, but felt that it was my duty to try it again. It was a good life choice. I ordered the soup, it came in a cute bowl on a plate. There was crispy cheese dripping down the sides. I was in heaven!
The soup really helped me calm down before the performance and I've felt that this soup is my form of good luck. I performed well. I only thing I remember from that day is the amazing sound in Carnegie Hall and the French Onion soup at Carnegie Deli.
Cheers
1 large Red Onion
half a stick of butter (quarter cup)
a few Tablespoons of olive oil
Kosher Salt
Fresh Cracked Black Pepper to taste
1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 qt. Beef Stock or Beef Broth
half cup of Red Wine (Cheap bottle of Pinot Nior or Zinfindal)
4 slices of white artisan bread toasted and bone dry
8 slices of Swiss Cheese
4 slices of Provolone Cheese
Slice Onions thinly and put into a large heavy bottom pot with butter and olive oil. Sprinkle a generous amount of kosher salt over the onions to help them sweat out most of their moisture. Add black pepper and red pepper flakes. Cook onions until caramelized, this should take about 35-45 minutes. Start with med high heat and then turn the heat down once the onions start to break down well. Remember to stir often. This step should not be rushed because the onions can burn which would make them bitter.
Now is a good time to take your bread slices and pop them into a 250 degree oven for about 20 minutes. The toasts need to be bone dry so they don't break apart in the soup.
Once the onions reach a desirable level of caramelization, deglaze the pot with a half a cup of red wine. Cook for a couple minutes to allow the onions to absorb most of the wine.
The toasts should be out of the oven by now.
Now add the full quart of Beef Stock to the onions. Taste the soup after the mixture has reached a simmer. If it is too salty, add some water, probably about a cup. If it's seasoned well enough for your liking, leave it alone.
Let the soup simmer for about 10 minutes so all those flavors have time to marry.
Take the soup off of the heat and ladle into bowls. I like shallow cereal bowls so that the toast floats nicely.
Put bowls onto a cookie sheet so there are no spills in the oven. Top each soup with a toast and 2 slices of swiss cheese and 1 slice of provolone cheese. Make sure some of the cheese is touching the edge of the bowl so it gets nice and crispy. Turn your broiler on in the oven and place soups into oven. Broil soup for about 2 minutes or until the cheese is nice a bubbly with light brown spots.
Wait about 5 minutes before serving.
Enjoy! :)
I really love French onion soup because it really sticks to your ribs and it's super cheap to make. When you serve this to guests they really feel like they are getting a super fancy meal. I made this soup for some friends and they didn't really want to eat it because it didn't sound very good to them, and they only had it at mediocre restaurants. After I force fed them my French onion soup, they have changed their tune and pretty much request it weekly.
I got my French Onion Soup passion in New York City. I had been watching Food Network like an addict and they had recently done a show about french onion soup and it sounded really good. Of course I ate my way through New York while I was there. I would stop at every street vendor that had a long line and would order whatever I saw people walking away with, because they live there, they must know what is good. I would share my portion with my husband to both save money and to ensure that I would have enough room for food again when we inevitably would stop at another street vendor cart in a few blocks. I ate SO much pizza, but never enough, hot dogs, cheese steaks, pretzels, beagles with schmear, falafel, any kind of skewer... I was only there for 3 days... anyway back to soup...
The reason for the journey to the Big Apple was to perform in Carnegie Hall with my college wind ensemble. I play Trombone and I use to be pretty good at it. Between our warm up and performance at Carnegie we had about an hour and a half off. Of course that means eat something, so I don't throw up from nervousness. There was a little Deli across the street called Carnegie Deli, which interested me. I looked over the entire menu and wanted everything on it. I knew I was going to eat dinner in a few hours, so I didn't want to eat too much. I remembered the french onion soup show on food network so I ordered that. I thought if I was going to have French onion soup anywhere, it needed to be here. I also had some bad experiences with French onion soups at mediocre restaurants, but felt that it was my duty to try it again. It was a good life choice. I ordered the soup, it came in a cute bowl on a plate. There was crispy cheese dripping down the sides. I was in heaven!
The soup really helped me calm down before the performance and I've felt that this soup is my form of good luck. I performed well. I only thing I remember from that day is the amazing sound in Carnegie Hall and the French Onion soup at Carnegie Deli.
Cheers
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