Best Ever French Onion Soup

my absolute favorite soup in the whole wide world is french onion soup. there's something about the carmelized onions topped with crusty bread and heaping amounts of melted cheese that just makes me go yum!

so i was ecstatic when i was reading Lunch in Paris and found the best recipe in the whole wide world for french onion soup. the best part about it...is that if you have some time (it takes about 4 hours total to make) it's the easiest thing in the world.

all you do is slice up a bunch of onions and toss them in a dutch oven with some butter, evoo, thyme, salt, pepper and a bay leaf and let the onions carmelize on their own in the oven.

chop 'em and leave 'em. what's easier than that???

this is the perfect dinner to make on a lazy sunday (when you're stuck inside watching football with your husband all day ;0) ) and especially a lazy cold sunday.

what's your favorite fall (or anytime of year) soup?

Best Ever French Onion Soup
Serves: 8

8-10 medium onions
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp evoo (extra virgin olive oil)
sea salt
a few twigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1/2 c dry sherry
8 cups chicken broth
8 slices stale baguette or sourdough bread (if you don't have any stale bread around, you can dry yours out in a warm oven in about 20 min. just set the oven to warm (about 200 degrees) and set your bread on the oven rack)
8 oz grated gruyere cheese
8 oz grated comte cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a dutch oven combine the onions, butter, olive oil, salt, thyme and bay leaf. Cook, covered in the oven for 1 hour.

Stir onions and leave the lid slightly askew and continue to let cook for an additional 1.5 hours.

Transfer the dutch oven to the stovetop and cook until all liquid is evaporated (about 20 min). Add the sherry and cook for 5 minutes. Add the broth and make sure to get all the bits of the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil, turn down and let simmer for 30 minutes.

Spoon the soup into 8 oven safe bowls and top with the baguette and a generous amounts of cheese. Pop in the oven under the broiler for 1-2 minutes or until the cheese is melted, browned slightly and nice and bubbly.

Enjoy!!