French onion soup
================= 2020-06-11


Comment: Be careful not to salt too much because the Gruyère cheese is already rather salty. Use a good chicken or veal stock, homemade is always better.
In the case of veal, we could replace the white port with cognac, and even deglaze the Dutch oven with red wine, I haven't tried it yet ...
For cheese, my preference goes to Gruyère, but in France we will rather use Comté.

6 persons

Ingredients:
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1.2+ kg of sliced yellow onions (200 g per person)
50 g butter
2 crushed garlic cloves
1 heap tablespoon of flour
2 sprig of thyme
2 bay leaves
1.5 l chicken or veal stock (see comment)
2 dl white wine (see comment)
6 sage leaves (opt)
1 good schlook of white port or cognac (see comment)
1 baguette or country bread
250 g of good salted gruyère cheese or comté cheese
S + P

Preparation:
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Sweat the onions in the hot butter (5 to 10 minutes). Add the garlic.
Reduce the heat and cook, covered and on low heat 30 to 45 minutes more until the onions become soft and translucent but not browned, stir occasionally so that it does not stick.
Sprinkle with flour, mix well.
Deglaze with the wine, cook for 1 or 2 minutes, stirring, and add the broth and port (or cognac), thyme, bay leaves and sage (opt).
Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes, starting from the boiling point.
Salt (very little, the cheese is already salted, be careful also if the broth is too) and pepper.
Meanwhile cut a slice of country bread or a few slices of baguette (~1 cm) per person and toast them.
Preheat the oven to 200C [400F].

Remove the herbs.
Pour the soup into small individual soup tureens.
Place the toast on the surface to cover the soup well and cover with the grated cheese.
Place the bowls on a wire rack and put in the oven near the grill (top of the oven).
Monitor the progress of the gratin and serve when the cheese is melted.