Easy French Onion Soup

It was a snowy Sunday. The New England area was experiencing a snow storm. Hubby and I decided to stay in for the most part of Sunday to chill and work on another wood working project! =) Soup was definitely in my mind. It was a great comfort food on such a beautiful yet cold and gloomy day!

Hubby and I love French Onion Soup, yet this is something we’ve always had only in restaurants. I’ve never attempted to make it myself till that snowy Sunday! After googling for some inspirations and ideas…I got busy! A large bowl French Onion Soup each was the perfect simple lunch for us to keep warm! 

Here’s my recipe for an easy French Onion Soup. I use store bought beef and chicken stock hence saving me a bunch of time and effort in preparing the stock. If you have homemade stock in hand, I bet those would be better!! I also use store bought Texas Garlic Toast. These toast are thicker and would be able to sustain better when I place them in the soup. These toast are also precut and comes in a box of 8 pieces for about $2 from your local grocery store! Garlic toast gives the toast an extra garlicky flavor. You could also use Cheese Toast, or any of your favorite thick cut toasts!!

EASY FRENCH ONION SOUP RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 3-1/2 to 4 Cups Sliced Yellow Onion (About 2 Large Onions)
• 3 Tbsp Butter
• 2 Bay Leaves
• 1/4 Tsp Dried Thyme
• 2 Clove Garlic, Minced
• 2 Tsp Sugar
• 4 Cups Beef Stock*
• 2 Pcs Texas Garlic Toast
• 1 Cup Mozzarella Cheese
• 1 Tsp Chopped Parsley (Optional)
• Salt & Pepper

*   I use 3 Cups of Beef Stock and 1 Cup of Chicken Stock.                                                             

Method:

Preheat oven at 400F and let garlic toast bake until they are toasty, and brown.

Melt 3 tbsp butter in a pot over medium high heat. Once butter has melted, add bay leaves, dried thyme and onion. Cook onion until soft, then add mince garlic. Continue to stir fry onion and garlic until onion start to brown a little. Add sugar and let onion brown a little more/caramelized but not burnt! Once all onion has soften and nicely browned, add beef/chicken stock. Season with salt and pepper as needed. Let soup simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes.

Pour hot soup into 2 bowls (oven proof and will fit about 2 cups of soup). Quickly place the toasted garlic toast on top of the soup and then top it with cheese. Cover the toast with cheese and feel free to sprinkle some into the soup.    

Place the bowls onto a pan and into the oven and set it to the broiler (heat coming from top) function. Let cheese melt, become bubbly and slightly brown before removing the bowls from the oven. Sprinkle with some optional parsley and serve immediately keeping in mind, SOUP IS HOT!! Don’t burn our tongue!! =)

June’s Comments: I made the soup as an entree size serving. If you want to make this a smaller appetizer serving, cut the toasted bread into half and prepare 4 small bowls (large enough for at least 1 cup of soup).