While this recipe is a little bit of a time commitment, it's pretty easy and tastes as good as it smells when you're cooking it.
Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 fresh thyme sprigs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup red wine, about 1/2 bottle
3 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour (use gluten free flour for gluten free option)
8 cups beef broth
1 baguette, sliced (use gluten free baguette for gluten free option)
1/2 pound grated Gruyere
Instructions
Melt the stick of butter in a large pot over medium heat.
Add the onions, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and salt and pepper and cook until the onions are very soft and caramelized, about 25 minutes.
Add the wine, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the wine has evaporated and the onions are dry, which could take up to an hour. Stir every once in a while.
Discard the bay leaves and thyme sprigs.
Dust the onions with the flour and give them a stir. Turn the heat down to medium-low so the flour doesn't burn, and cook for 10 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste.
Add the beef broth, bring the soup back to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes.
Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.
For the bread:
When you're ready to eat, preheat the broiler. Arrange the baguette slices on a baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle the slices with the Gruyere and broil until bubbly and golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes.
Ladle the soup in bowls and float several of the Gruyere croutons on top.
Alternative method: Ladle the soup into bowls, top each with 2 slices of bread and top with cheese. Put the bowls into the oven to toast the bread and melt the cheese.
The original recipe is from Tyler Florence and as expected, Food Network features a plethora of his amazing recipes and this one.
