French Onion Soup

Ingredients

• ½ cup butter
• 8 onions, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 tablespoon sherry
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 quarts beef broth
• 1 French baguette, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, or as needed
• 6 slices Swiss cheese
• 6 slices provolone cheese

Directions

1. Melt butter in a large stockpot over medium heat. Cook and stir onions, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper in hot butter until onions are soft and brown, about 30 minutes.
2. Pour in red wine and sherry; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until you can no longer smell alcohol cooking off, about 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4. Sprinkle onion mixture with flour and stir until coated; cook for 10 minutes. Pour in broth, stir to blend in flour, and simmer until slightly thickened, about 20 minutes.
5. While soup is simmering, arrange baguette slices on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Bake baguette slices in the preheated oven until golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes, flipping slices halfway through baking. Set aside.
6. Set an oven rack about 8 inches from the heat source and preheat the oven’s broiler.
7. Ladle soup into 6 oven-proof crocks, filling them about 3/4 full. Place 1 or 2 toasted baguette slices over each soup serving, then top each with a Swiss cheese and provolone slice. Carefully place filled crocks onto a sturdy baking sheet.
8. Cook soup under the preheated broiler until cheese is browned and bubbly, 3 to 4 minutes.

Notes