Day 8: Homemade Onion Soup

With all of the new recipes and new treats come only a couple of problems:  One- we can’t figure out how we can expand our garden this summer, both because we lack the sunlit space (though we have about 7-ish acres, we live in the woods) and because we still need to have no time to maintain it with the two little kiddos. Two- my husband is now daydreaming up all of the things he wants me to make for him; and they can be quite elaborate. AND, three- I was posed the question today, “if we had a lot of money… would you quit your job and just cook good food all the time… ‘cause I like all of this fresh food and new stuff?” That’s right, has my husband become delirious with too much home-cooked fresh food in his belly? Ha! I teach high school and own a start-up business… yeeeah…

The recipe below was an extension of last night’s recipe. By extension, I mean that this was the bulk of our meal, but it was overshadowed by dessert. This soup was delicious and fresh. It will definitely be kept in the files for a re-do when we have onions in the garden this summer/fall.

French Onion Soup

Serves 4

GF, CoF, EF, SF, NF… use a cheese alternative if you want this to be DF/CF or Vegan

INGREDIENTS:

2 large yellow onions; peeled and thinly sliced.

1 TBS Olive oil

1/4 teaspoon of sugar

1 tsp, minced garlic

4 cups of vegetable stock (Kitchen Basics brand, as usual).  Most recipes call for beef stock, but I decided to make this vegetarian style

Pinch of dry thyme

¼ tsp Salt

A few turns of fresh pepper

4 slices of toasted GF Bread- I used my own “Crazy Bread” from Friday’s recipe

4 slices of fresh smoked Gouda

About ¾ cup of grated fresh parmesan

Cooking:

Toast slices of the bread in the oven at 350 degrees for  12 minutes, flipping once half way through. I cut the bread to about 1 in thickness.

In a large saucepan, sauté the onions in the olive oil on medium high heat until well browned, but not burned, about 8 minutes. Add the sugar to help with the caramelizing.

Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute.

Add the stock and thyme. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Ladle about 1-1.5 cups of onion soup in oven-safe soup bowls.

Place a piece of the toast on top

Top the “crouton” with the two cheeses (First the smoked gouda, then sprinkle with fresh parmesan)

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees F until the cheese bubbles and slightly browns.

The smoked Gouda added the flavor that the missing beef broth made the soup lack. I would definitely use smoked Gouda in the future, no matter what type of broth. I usually use provolone cheese for my melted topping, but my Price Chopper bagger seems to have missed putting that item in my cart. No big deal, we are a cheese loving house, so there are always alternatives, and this one worked out beautifully.

Image courtesy of drinkinsider.com

Justin’s wine recommendation for this meal (since I am still nursing and wine is limited in my diet)- Beaujolais Nouveau. Probably because we had a bottle open already, but this really is the best cheap red table wine under $10. Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure that if you didn’t buy it yet, it won’t be available again until Thanksgiving 2012. It’s only available from November through New Years in most locations. We buy a few bottles to last us the year, between our other wine samplings.

If you try this recipe out, let me know your thoughts (or additions)!

Naturally,

Raych