French Onion Soup

I made this last week. It was awesome. Even Aidan liked it. The cheese is a little pricey, but worth it...

6 tablespoons butter
8 medium size onions, sliced thinly
4 thyme sprigs, leaves stripped
1/2 cup sherry
4 cups brown chicken broth
2 cups beef broth
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
French bread croutons
2 cups grated Gruyere cheese


In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, add butter and melt over medium heat. Add the onions and lower the heat to medium low. Add the thyme leaves and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions start to turn golden brown, about 25 minutes. Add the sherry and cook until the sherry is almost completely evaporated and the onions are brown, about 15 minutes.
Add the stocks and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and simmer for 30 minutes. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Ladle the soup into 8 oven-proof soup bowls. Place the soup bowls on a sheet pan. Place the croutons on top of the soup, to cover. Top each bowl with 1/2 cup grated cheese. Place in the oven and cook until the cheese is golden brown and bubbly, about 10 minutes.


Good stuff...got the recipe off of Emeril except he used chicken and veal stock instead of broth...Aidan and I are going to start finding one new recipe a week that we make together. As I've given up McD's forever (really bad experience involving raw meat and what I think was mold), home cooked will work out fine. I just wish I had a good set of knives. Mine are a cheapo set called Chicago cutlery...don't ever buy that brand...the knives suck.

Birthday came and went...more of a big waste of time. Didn't do anything. Last year was really great. I had a Thai dinner with Jeff and Karen and then went to the movies, and then that weekend I flew out to see Amber and we went on a Blues music riverboat cruise.

That's all for now kids...

Cheers
Tim