French Onion Soup

Prep time: 25 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Total time: 55 mins
Serves: 2

Ingredients

  • 2 teaspoons + 1 teaspoon butter
  • 1 medium onion sliced in half moons
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 3 cups low-sodium beef stock
  • 4 slices of whole wheat french bread (I buy the demi loaves at Target to make it easy)
  • 2 ounces Gruyere cheese

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Heat 2 teaspoons butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
  3. Add onions and salt and toss lightly.
  4. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low.
  5. Cook (stirring often) until softened and starting to brown, about 15 minutes.
  6. Stir in broth and bring to a boil.
  7. Cover and reduce heat low and a simmer.
  8. Cook for an additional 10 minutes.
  9. Ladle soup into an oven-safe bowl and cook for an additional 15 to 20 minutes.
  10. Butter bread using the remaining butter and top with cheese.
  11. Add to the soup and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until cheese begins to brown slightly and bubbles.
  12. Enjoy!

Nutrition data

Calories: 322 
Fat: 11 grams 
Carbohydrates: 41 grams 
Protein: 25 grams

Nutritional information is approximate. Based on the recipe in The Food of France by Sarah Woodward.

 

One of my favorite dishes of all time is French Onion Soup. If I have the opportunity to order it I do – without a second thought. As you can imagine, while in France I ordered it – a lot. What may shock you is that the French Onion Soup I liked the best was considered a more “traditional” soup. You see, the problem with enjoying certain French dishes in America is that we always want to embellish and improve. I can’t even remember how many recipes I looked at and thought “why does it need all of this?” Right about that time I remembered that my friend, Anna, had bought me an authentic French cuisine cookbook years ago. I vaguely remembered a bowl of French Onion Soup on the cover. I found the cookbook, flipped to page 103 and was shocked when I saw it only consisted of six ingredients! Excited, I decided to modify a bit of it to make it healthier and suitable for two adults (instead of 4). The results reminded me of the soup I adored while in France. Bon Appétit!

Note: I had erroneously typed beef broth instead of beef stock. Beef broth will work, but it will not have the hardiness that the beef stock gives it. Thank you My Crazy Kitchen for catching this mistake!