entrees

There’s nothing better than comforting soup on a cold day. I’ve been making soups and stews so much this season that Sam has lovingly nicknamed me “Stu.” The best part about french onion soup is that it has so few ingredients that you may just have everything laying around. The fresh rosemary gives it that beautiful little punch of wintry flavor, giving it a little something extra.

This soup takes about an hour from start to finish, and honestly the hardest part is cutting all the onions. I have tried everything. A sharper knife, sticking the onions in the freezer for a few minutes, wearing sunglasses, all to no avail. So my easy solution is to make someone else cut the onions. Or just power through it! Because this soup is totally worth it.

Let’s get started on this soup! It’s super easy.

First, preheat two pans. I use my big soup pot plus a large nonstick skillet. This gives the onions ample space to brown without crowding each other. They’ll caramelize and then meet back in the stew pot at the end.

Make sure the onions get a really nice dark brown color. I like them nearly burnt, so no shame if you burn them a bit. Once they’re properly browned, about 30 minutes, put all the onions back into the big soup pot. Add the sherry and scrape up all those lovely brown bits at the bottom before adding wine, rosemary, and beef stock.

Then simmer away for about fifteen minutes. Then comes the fun part. Ladle into little oven safe bowls and cover with a sliced baguette and cheese. Broil for a couple minutes until brown and bubbly. YUM! How could anyone not love this simple, warming soup?

I hope you love this recipe as much as me. Try the full recipe below!

FRENCH ONION SOUP WITH ROSEMARY

serves 4-6

Ingredients:

2 lb yellow onions
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp sherry
2/3 cup white wine
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped, stems removed
6 cups beef stock
1 cup gruyere or mature cheddar, grated
1 baguette, sliced crosswise

Directions:

Slice the onions very thinly and set aside. Preheat one large nonstick skillet and one large dutch oven or soup pot over medium low heat. (If all your onions will fit evenly at the bottom of a dutch oven in a thin layer, then you can just use a dutch oven and skip the additional pan for caramelizing). Add 2 tbsp butter to each pot and let it melt. Add half the onions to each pot and let them brown for about 30 minutes, stirring every few minutes, but not very frequently. Once the onions are dark brown, add all the onions to the large soup pot. Add the sherry to deglaze the pan, scraping the brown bits from the bottom with a wooden spoon. Add the wine and continue to cook for one minute. Add the rosemary and beef stock. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn down to a simmer and simmer about 15 minutes or until the soup reduces slightly. Remove the soup from the heat.

Move the oven rack to the top third of the oven. Preheat the broiler to high. Ladle the soup into oven safe soup bowls or crocks. Place the baguette slices on top of the soup crocks. Sprinkle with cheese. Place the soup crocks on a baking sheet and broil on the top rack of the oven until the baguette browns and the cheese bubbles. Remove from the oven and serve hot.

Alternately, if you don’t have oven safe bowls, you may place baguette slices on a baking sheet, sprinkle with cheese and broil in the top third of the oven until the cheese melts and bubbles. Then serve the soup in bowls and top each bowl with a piece of toasted cheesy baguette.