French Onion Soup

I really do eat more than soup in the winter, I swear! The funny thing is, if you asked me if I liked soup I would probably say, "It's ok, but I don't love it." I guess I didn't realize just how much I like it, in it's many varities, until I started blogging. I suppose my hidden love of soup has something to do with how warming it can be on a cold winter's day, and we have had plenty of those this year. In fact, we just got 8-9 inches of snow over the past weekend - something this area hasn't seen in over a decade! So, with being snowed in over the weekend and school cancelled the last two days, what's a girl to do but make some more soup! I started the weekend with a pot of my Black Bean with Andouille Sausage Soup and today I made the French Onion Soup recipe posted below. Both of which proved perfect when I needed to warm up after playing in the snow.

French Onion Soup
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced (about 2 1/2 cups)*
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
3 1/2 cups beef broth
1/4 C dry white wine or vermouth
1/4 tsp dried thyme leaves
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
4 slices French bread, toasted & rubbed with garlic clove
1/2 C shredded cheese (1/4 C Parmesan & 1/4 C Asiago)

Directions:

Heat the oil in a 4-quart saucepot over medium heat. Add the onions. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Uncover the saucepot, return heat to medium, and cook for another 30 minutes or until the onions turn light golden brown.

Stir the flour in the saucepot and cook and stir for 1 minute. Stir in the broth, wine (or Vermouth), thyme, pepper, and bay leaf. Heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cook for 10 minutes.

Ladle soup into individual crocks. Top with a slice of the french bread toast and parmesan cheese. Place in oven under broiler until cheese melts.