This French onion soup is very rich. You can make onion soup without the stock or broth and wine, but I like this version. You can use sweet onions or a combination of sweet onions and red onions, if you prefer.  I do either.  With 8 cups of stock or broth, the wine, and 8 onions, you should end up with about 8 bowls of soup.

Unless I am having a crowd over, I ladle all of my soup into soup bowls, place the ones I am not going to use in the freezer, and then, a few hours later, when the soup is firm, I place the crouton on top as well as the cheese and wrap up each bowl w/soup with plastic wrap.  THEN, aluminum (tin) foil.  The soup stays in the freezer for months, really, and makes a convenient entrée down the road.  It takes AN HOUR for a frozen bowl of soup to be ready, but, we think it is worth it!  Onion soup is something you want to eat on a yucky day to warm your heart and your spirit, and if you have some bowls in the freezer, it is only an hour away…

  Ingredients:

1. 2 T olive oil
2. 8 large onions, thinly sliced
3. salt
4. 8 cups beef stock or broth
5. 2 cloves garlic, minced
6. 1 bay leaves
7. ¼ teaspoons sugar
8. 1 cup wine, optional
9. Freshly ground pepper
10. French bread, sliced into 1/2”slices
11. Gruyere cheese, grated

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil until fragrant but not smoking. Add the onions and sprinkle to taste with salt. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until very tender, about 20-30 minutes.
2. Remove the cover, raise the heat slightly add sugar and the minced garlic. Stirring frequently, continue to cook until the onions turn a deep caramel brown, about another 30 minutes.
3. Add the stock and bay leaves, wine, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes more to blend flavors.
4. Meanwhile…
5. Make 1/2”slices of bread and place in a slow oven (325 degrees) on a baking sheet and totally dry out to make a crouton, but do not brown.(if the bread slices are not dry they will sink into the soup). Set aside
6. Remove the bay leaves from the soup; season it with salt & pepper and ladle into bowls.
7. Top with French bread croutons. Sprinkle gruyere cheese over the top of the bread and broil in the oven until the cheese bubbles.

1. Note: To save extra soup, place soup in bowls (no topping) and put in freezer. Freeze lightly, remove, add the crouton slices and cheese, wrap up and put back in the freezer.  I wrap the bowl with the soup with plastic wrap, then wrap it again with tin foil.
2. To re-heat, unwrap the soup bowls. Save the tin foil (aluminum foil).  You will use it later! Place soup bowls on a baking sheet in COLD oven, set heat to 350 degrees, and warm for 30 minutes. Tops should be browning.
3. For the next 30 minutes of the re-heat, place aluminum foil you had saved from the wrapped soup bowls  on soups to stop the browning, and continue to warm for another 30 minutes. Total reheat time: 1 hour