French Onion Soup & Side Salad

June 30th, 2009-

Today we made homemade French Onion Soup- simply done with the crock pot. I had recently seen some recipes for it, and it seemed simple enough to make.

The Salad

I coupled it with a salad made with Romaine lettuce, crumbled gorgonzola cheese, and a homemade dressing made from Miracle Whip, olive oil, pepper, garlic powder, sugar, and a dash of salt. I topped the salad with homemade croutons from the leftover french loaf. Those I made by dicing the bread, adding a splash of olive oil, pepper, and garlic power- then roasting in the oven for 5 minutes. Finally, I garnished it with a a shaved carrot (for color and content).

The Soup

2 medium Yellow Onions (thinly sliced)

1 tablespoon Butter

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon of pepper (or to taste)

6 cups of Beef Broth

2 tablespoons of Worcheshire sauce

1/8 cup of dry white wine or sherry

1 loaf of french bread

1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese

Either in the crock pot (approximately 30-45 minutes) or in a skillet (10 minutes) combine the butter, olive oil, sugar, and sliced onions and simmer on medium heat (or high in the crock pot) until onions begin to have golden edges- do not completely brown the onions.

Put in crock pot and then add the pepper and the flour. Mix together, put the lid on, and cook an additional 15 minutes on high.

Then, add the beef broth, dry white wine (or sherry), and Worcheshire. Stir together and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours or on high 2-3 hours- stirring occasionally. Low & slow cooking is always the better option!

Slice the french bread, top with the cheese and brown in the oven or broiler. Serve and drop cheesy bread into bowl.

As my wife would say: ¡Buen provecho!

This one, we'll certainly make again.