French Onion Soup

Ah, well despite the fact that it is sunny RIGHT NOW, we had a stretch of weather here in Vancouver that included pouring rain and hail (twice).  Summer seems to be arriving in fits and starts.

The boyfriend and I have dinner almost every Thursday with a friend that lives in the same building complex - she is kind enough to watch over our kitties whenever we go away for the weekend, so we try to make them dinner as recompense as often as we can :)  Recently, she jumped at our mention of french onion soup, which the boyfriend has become quite skilled at preparing. With this crappy weather, we jumped at the idea, too.

This recipe has been adapted from a Tyler Florence recipe, so original credit to him (especially the directions), but after making it several times, we've changed up the ingredients list a bit:

1/2 cup unsalted butter (or margarine)
4 yellow onions, sliced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 bay leaves
2 fresh thyme sprigs
Salt and pepper to taste
1.5 cups red wine
3 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
8 cups vegetarian "beef flavoured" broth
1 baguette, sliced
grated gruyere/vegan white cheese

Melt the butter/margarine in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, salt and pepper and cook until the onions are very soft and caramelized, about 25 minutes. Add the wine, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the wine has evaporated and the onions are dry, about 5 minutes. Discard the bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Dust the onions with the flour and stir. Turn the heat down to medium low so the flour doesn't burn, and cook for 10 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste. Preheat the oven to "broil".  Now add the broth, bring the soup back to simmer, and cook for 10 minutes. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls, top each with slices of bread and top with cheese. Put the bowls into the oven to toast the bread and melt the cheese.

Our friend seemed to really enjoy it, and to me, it tastes every bit as good as the french onion soup my mom used to make when I was a kid, but without the animal juices ;)

And now, since this is my blog, and I do what I want, two pictures of my kitties that our friend takes care of:

Lentil is the black one with a couple of white tufts on his chest, a wonky ear and no voicebox, and Toa (Maori for "warrior") is the white and ginger one with a slight binge eating disorder. They are both just over 4 years old and I adopted them both from the wonderful cat rescue organization here in Vancouver, VOKRA.  http://www.orphankittenrescue.com/

Have a great weekend! :)