Ooooh lala!

Greetings, kids! It's time once again for Recipe Tuesday. I saw this recipe made on Paula Dean one day, and never having had it, thought it tasted pretty good in my head. But wait, you think/say/exclaim (insert at will)... What is this... dish?

French Onion Soup.

Wait! I don't mean the powder stuff. I don't mean something ordered in a restaurant. I mean one of the easiest-to-make dishes in the world, although it does take some time. This is the sum of about 8 different recipes I found. And you can have your shortcuts with some things in it, but really. French onion soup. The peasant in me just shivered with delight. How rustic. How filling. Especially with fall everywhere (those are some really cool leaves around here at the top). Hot and tasty. And filling. Shall we, Dear Reader? Let's go to the kitchen.

French Onion Soup

6-8 medium onions*, sliced lyonnaise (lengthwise) (yes, it's a lot of onions)
1/4 cup butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup beer**
1 10oz. can of beef consomme
1 3/4 cups beef broth
1 cup water
Salt and pepper to taste
Slices of French bread/texas toast/croutons for topping***
Shredded/sliced cheese****





Melt the butter over medium heat, wait until just melted.






Stir in the onions. Reduce heat. Cover. After about 15 minutes, after the onions have sweated down a bit, stir in the pepper.





Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are pale golden to medium caramel. Be patient, this can take awhile. Mine went about 1 1/2 hours.




Raise heat to medium, add garlic. Stir and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes. Stir in the beer and reduce, stirring frequently, until syrupy.




Add the consomme, broth and water. Taste. Add salt and/or pepper to taste. Bring just to a boil.
Reduce heat. Simmer about 20 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, toast your bread under the broiler, cook your texas toast to package specs, open the croutons, make your croutons... Whatever you decide to use to top it. I used cheese-garlic texas toast rounds. SO I cooked them according to package specs.
Taste your soup. Last chance to make any updates to the seasoning.


Dish into bowls or cups (I used bowls, Sic_un said he's never had it in anything but cups). MAKE SURE THEY ARE OVEN SAFE.
Top with bread/toast/croutons. Sprinkle with sliced/shredded cheese.
Broil until bubbling and/or brown.

Enjoy.

FRENCH ONION SOUP

* I used all sweet onions. I wish, after making it and tasting it really, that I had used a mixture of sweet and yellow onions.
** All the recipes had some kind of pan de-glazer. I had beer, I used beer. Wine on hand? Use that. Apple juice? Use it. Brandy? Go for it. I had beer, I used beer. I saw a recipe that used cola.
***Cut the bread into slices, butter each side, toast under the broiler until crispy and golden. Use what flavors you like. I used garlic/cheese.
****Tradition is provolone. I used shredded cheddar because it was on hand. Think of this with a brie. Damn. Ooooh... Queso Blanco. MMmmmm.