Deep-Caramelized French Onion Soup with Gruyère Crouton

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

Three pounds of yellow onions cooked down slowly for a full 45 minutes until they're jammy and mahogany, then simmered in beef broth with thyme, sherry and a splash of dry vermouth. Each bowl gets a toasted baguette slab buried under shredded Gruyère and a dusting of Parmesan, then goes under the broiler until the cheese blisters and glues itself to the rim. An Italian-restaurant take on the French classic — the Parmesan is what makes it taste like it came from a ristorante.

Ingredients

• 3 lb yellow onions (about 5 large), halved and sliced 1/4-inch thick
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar

• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup dry sherry
• 1/2 cup dry white vermouth or dry white wine
• 6 cup good beef broth (low-sodium)
• 4 sprig fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 piece Parmesan rind (optional, about 2 inches)
• freshly ground black pepper
• kosher salt, to taste

• 8 slice baguette, cut 3/4-inch thick on a slight bias
• 1 tbsp olive oil, for brushing
• 1 clove garlic, halved
• 8 oz Gruyère, coarsely shredded (about 3 cups)
• 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan

Instructions

1. Melt the butter with the olive oil in a wide 6- to 8-quart Dutch oven over medium heat. Add all the sliced onions — they will mound above the rim — along with the salt and sugar. Toss to coat, cover, and cook 15 minutes, stirring twice, until the onions collapse and release their liquid.
2. Uncover, raise the heat to medium and cook 45 to 55 minutes longer, stirring every 5 minutes and scraping the bottom and corners with a wooden spoon. The onions will go from blond to gold to a deep mahogany jam that fits in the bottom third of the pot. If the fond on the bottom starts to darken past brown, add 2 tablespoons of water and scrape it up. Do not rush this — it is the entire dish.
3. When the onions are dark, sweet and reduced to about 2 cups, sprinkle the flour over them and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes to toast out the raw taste.
4. Pour in the sherry and vermouth. Scrape hard to lift every bit of fond and simmer 3 to 4 minutes until the liquid is syrupy and mostly gone.
5. Add the beef broth, thyme sprigs, bay leaf, Worcestershire and Parmesan rind if using. Bring to a bare simmer, then cook uncovered at a lazy bubble for 30 minutes so the broth takes on the onion sweetness. Fish out the thyme stems, bay leaf and rind. Season with several grinds of black pepper and salt to taste — go carefully, the cheese adds plenty.
6. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 375°F. Brush the baguette slices on both sides with olive oil, arrange on a sheet pan and bake 10 to 12 minutes, flipping once, until dry and crisp all the way through. Rub one side of each hot slice with the cut garlic clove. Crisp croutons are essential — soft bread turns to mush.
7. Move an oven rack 6 inches under the broiler and turn the broiler to high. Set four 12- to 16-ounce oven-safe bowls or crocks on a rimmed sheet pan. Ladle the hot soup in, stopping 3/4 inch from the rim.
8. Float 2 croutons on each bowl, fitting them together to cover the surface. Pile a generous 3/4 cup of shredded Gruyère over each, letting it spill onto the rim of the bowl — that overhang is what becomes the crown of crisp cheese. Dust each with 2 tablespoons of Parmesan.
9. Broil 3 to 5 minutes, watching constantly, until the cheese is fully melted, bubbling and spotted deep brown at the edges. Let the bowls sit 5 minutes before serving — the soup is molten — and warn everyone the crocks are screaming hot.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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