On a cold and snowy night, there’s nothing like a steaming bowl of French onion soup to warm you up. This recipe from NYT Cooking takes some time, but the result are worth it. Thinly slice onions (a mandoline slicer or slicing blade of a food processor work well) and caramelize them until wilted, tender and deep brown. Meanwhile, warm the stock. Once the onions are caramelized, add wine, sherry and flour. Add the broth, season and boil for 10 minutes. Ladle the soup into oven-proof bowls, place a slice of crusty bread on each bowl and top with grated cheese. Keeping a careful eye on the oven, broil for a few minutes until the cheese melts and browns. Cook’s note: I used chicken stock instead of beef stock and red wine vinegar instead of sherry.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

Make sure the butter and cheese do not contain colour or preservatives. I used Better Than Bouillon chicken paste for the stock, Eden Organic red wine vinegar instead of sherry and a red wine from Frogpond Farm that had a sulfite count below 10 parts per million. Ace Bakery bread is usually free of additives and preservatives.

French onion soup

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons (45 ml) unsalted butter

3 to 4 large red or yellow onions (about 3 pounds/1.36 kg), peeled and thinly sliced

¾ teaspoon (3.75 ml) kosher salt, plus more to taste

2 quarts (2 L) beef stock

1 cup (250 ml) dry white wine

1 tablespoon (15 ml) dry sherry

1 tablespoon (15 ml) all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) black pepper, plus more to taste

6 to 12 (½-inch/1.25-cm) slices French bread

1 ½ cups (375 ml) grated Gruyère cheese

Preparation:

Melt butter in a heavy Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions and ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) salt, stir and cover, letting onions soften for 5 minutes. Remove lid and let onions caramelize until golden brown over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Adjust heat if onions are browning too quickly. The caramelization process may take 45 to 60 minutes.

Meanwhile, warm broth in a saucepan over low heat.

Once onions are caramelized, add wine and sherry to the pot and allow mixture to come to boil. Stir in flour and let thicken for a minute or two.

Slowly add warm broth, ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml) salt and the pepper to the onion mixture and boil uncovered for 10 minutes. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

Heat the broiler and arrange individual ovenproof casseroles on a baking sheet. Ladle soup into casseroles and cover top with bread slices. Sprinkle each casserole generously with Gruyère.

Broil for a minute or two, watching carefully, until cheese melts and browns. Serve immediately. Serves 6.

From NYT Cooking