French Onion Soup

I have been thinking about French onion soup all day. I woke up with a hankering for it, and put in a request before I scurried off to work this morning. When I walked into the house tonight at dinner time it smelled ever so lovely. Andy had also made a picture perfect loaf of bread to go with the soup.



This bread was so pretty it looked as if it were made by the props department at Theatre IV. Have I mentioned how grateful I am to have a husband who loves to cook?

We often use the onion soup recipe in the little Williams Sonoma "Soup"cookbook.



Every soup in this book is delicious, and the recipes seem really well-tested. The finished dish usually looks as good as the picture, which I find to be rare.

This soup takes patience, as it begins with a huge pile of onions that are cooked and caramelized until they practically disappear. It's not a thin watery soup, but rather a thick and hearty textured soup with a beautifully complex flavor.

Andy ladled the soup into oven proof bowls, topped with a slice of that picture perfect bread and some shredded Gruyere cheese and put it in the broiler until it was all melted.



Don't skimp on the cheese. A cheap, soapy flavored Swiss does not cut it! Buy the real cave-aged Gruyere. It's a little on the pricey side, but everything else in this recipe is very inexpensive so it balances out.

We eat this soup as a main course, but it makes a wonderful appetizer as well. It comes together very quickly in the broiler, and it looks gorgeous. You can make it a day in advance and it tastes even better the second day!