French Onion Soup

So remember that time I had a blog? Eesh... sorry about that guys! I'm back and I promise to update this blog and give it the love that it needs! I have to give my friend Steph over at Cooking with Corgis credit for giving me inspiration to blog again.

Well, without further ado, I give you homemade french onion soup.

I know the usual mantra- French onion soup? Doesn't that take forever? And ramkins? And a blowtorch to melt the cheese? And doesn't it take all day long?

The short answer - no. The recipe I used took 30 minutes and I used my plain ol' bowls at home. No blowtorch required! Although, this is a bit of an upside-down soup, as the cheese and bread are on the bottom.

Ingredients
 1 tbsp EVOO
1 small sweet onion, sliced
1 leek, rinsed and chopped (white and light green parts only, no leaves)
4 cloves chopped garlic
1/4 tsp dried thyme (or 1/2 tsp fresh)
1 tbsp dry sherry
Ground pepper, to taste
16 oz beef broth (see note)
2 tbsp chopped fresh scallions/chives
2 slices whole-wheat bread
2 oz Gruyere cheese

Preparation
- Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add chopped onion, stir to coat, and cover. Reduce the heat to medium. Cook until onions is soft, about 6/7 minutes, stirring often.
-Add leek, garlic, and thyme. Cook until leeks soften, about 4 minutes, stirring often.
-Add sherry and pepper. Turn heat to medium-high and stir until most of the liquid has evaporated (about half a minute).
-Add broth and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to simmer, cover, and let simmer for 5 minutes.
-Remove from heat, stir in chives.
-Add bread an sliced gruyere cheese to bottom of bowl. Add hot soup on-top and enjoy! The heat from the soup will melt the gruyere cheese.

Note
For the beef broth, I would buy the 32 oz box. This is a very oniony soup, and buying the 32 oz box will allow you to add more broth if you want.

Well, enjoy this one! I'm in the mood to make many soups this fall, so be prepared! I might even do a Thanksgiving edition. Stay tuned!