French Onion Soup - @johnpneedham

This recipe is loosely based on Julia Child's version of Soupe à l’Oignon Gratinée. I use more thyme than she does - we love thyme. You'll need nice soup crocks to make this dish properly; wide soup bowls really won't work here.

Variations The recipe below calls for chicken stock and white wine, which is the general basis for true French onion soup, but you can vary those combinations. Try red wine with beef stock for a "toothier" version. Lately I've been making mine with dry sherry and veal stock from Club Sauce after having that version at Bobby Flay's Bar Americain in New York. (If you make this dish with veal stock, try using sourdough croutons and aged white cheddar as the topping.)

Six cups thinly sliced red onions, about 3 large ones.
2 tablespoons each, butter and extra virgin olive oil
Three cans low sodium chicken broth.
One package of fresh thyme
Salt
Pepper
A six ounce block of Gruyere Cheese
One loaf french bread baugette.

Cut the onions in half, remove the outer skin, and slice them very thinly. Heat a large soup pot on the stove over medium heat, then, when it is hot, pour in the olive oil and add the butter. As soon as the butter melts, dump in all the onions, stir with a wooden spoon to coat all the onions in oil and butter, season liberally with salt and pepper, stir again. Add the thyme (or herb of your choice), stir again, then put the lid on the pot.

Cook the onions covered, stirring every five minutes, for 20 to 25 minutes, until they are well and truly tender.

At this point, preheat the oven to 400.

Remove the lid and raise the temperature to medium-high. Continue cooking the onions until they are well caramelized and browned, about 20 to 25 minutes more. (Reduce the heat to medium or even medium low, if the onions look like they are starting to burn.)

Once the onions are well caramelized, you can, optionally, deglaze the pot with a half-cup of red or white wine of your choice. Otherwise, deglaze the pot with one-half can of the stock. Then add the rest of the stock, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.

Slice the baugette into one-half inch wide pieces, lay the pieces out on a baking sheet, and bake for 10 minutes. Flip the pieces over and bake or another five or ten minutes, until the bread is crispy, golden and toasty.

Meanwhile, shred the gruyere cheese.

Now we're ready for action - take one piece of toasted bread, crumble it into each bowl. Toss in about a tablespoon of cheese, top with soup, leaving about a half-inch gap at the top of the bowl. Place one whole baugette slice on top of each bowl, and top with more shredded cheese.

Place all the bowls on a baking sheet, pop them into the oven, and bake for about a half-hour, until the cheese has melted and started turning brown.

Remove from oven, let the bowls stand for 10 minutes at room temperature, then serve.

(Makes four good-sized soup crocks.)