Easy French Onion Soup

Chris has been asking me to make French Onion Soup for a long time. Ages, really. But I read once that French Onion Soup isn't worth it unless you make your own beef stock. And I've meant to do that, only I never have. Things like vacuuming and blogging and taking care of Evie and sleeping and Desperate Housewives get in the way, and I don't carve out time for things like homemade beef stock.

Chris just couldn't leave it alone, though. Then Evie discovered Panera's French Onion Soup, and loved it. So, fine - they won. I looked up an easy recipe on allrecipes.com and I bought beef broth at the grocery store. And, man oh man, this was good soup! It was perfect for the fall weather we're having - warm and rich and gooey with cheese. I guess Chris can be right every once in awhile!

I served the soup with my homemade bread. And even though I used canned broth, I still felt like Suzy Homemaker...

Easy French Onion Soup
1/2 c. unsalted butter
2 Tbsp. olive oil
4 c. sliced onions
4 (10.5 oz.) cans beef broth
2 Tbsp. dry sherry
1 tsp. dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste

4 slices French bread
4 slices Muenster cheese
2 slices Swiss cheese, diced

Melt butter with olive oil in a stock pot on medium heat. Add onions and cook (stirring very often,) until tender and translucent. Do not brown the onions. (The part about not browning the onions didn't sound right to me, but I followed the directions. The soup was fabulous, so I guess there's a reason for it!)

Add beef broth, sherry and thyme. Season with salt and pepper, and simmer for 30 minutes.

Heat the oven broiler.

Ladle soup into oven-safe serving bowls and place one slice of bread on top of each. Layer each slice of bread with a slice of Muenster and 1/2 a slice of diced Swiss. Place bowls on a cookie sheet and broil in the preheated oven until the cheese bubbles and browns slightly. (I don't have oven-safe bowls. Instead, I just broiled the bread slices as directed and put them into bowls of soup afterward. Still just as good.)

And I'd make sure to use the sherry. I think it added a tiny little hint of richness that I would miss if it wasn't in the soup. Plus, it was fun to hear Evie in the liquor section, confused about the difference between sherry and Aunt Shari!

Enjoy!

Lisa hosts Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays over at Blessed with Grace. Visit her for more yummy recipes!