You know, that onions are really good for you… don’t you? If you’re lookin’ for an easy, hearty soup to warm you up on them cold winter days, then eat some of this here French Onion Soup and know you’re doin’ somethin’ healthy for that sweet, little body of yours! In fact, just read below what Dr. Mercola says about this incredible vegetable in his article Onion Power: The Health Benefits of Onions. (I luv Dr. Mercola! I’m partial to a man with no hair! Although he is a little skinny and could use some fattenin’ up!)
Hearty French Onion Soup
Recipe by: Bobbi Jo Lathan
Recipe type: Entree
Cuisine: French
PREP TIME
15 mins
COOK TIME
55 mins
TOTAL TIME
1 hour 10 mins
INGREDIENTS
½ cup unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups onions (peeled and sliced)
2 cloves fresh garlic (chopped)
3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon black pepper (freshly ground)
¾ cups dry white wine
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
6 cups beef broth
I small baguette (sliced ½ inch thick)
½ pound Gruyere cheese (sliced)
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
INSTRUCTIONS
Get yourself a big, sturdy soup pot. Place the butter in the pot and melt it over a medium heat. Once it’s all frothy, add the sliced onions, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, salt and pepper and cook until the onions are soft and all caramelized and golden brown (about 25-30 minutes).
Add the flour and stir and cook for another minute or so until blended.
Now, preheat your oven to 350° F.
Next, add the wine to the pot of onions and stir and cook that for another 5 minutes until the wine has evaporated.
Then, add the beef broth and simmer for another 10 minutes. You might wanna taste the soup after simmering and see if you want to add a little more salt and pepper. Just let the soup simmer while you toast the baguette slices.
Get yourself a baking sheet and place the baguette slices on the sheet and toast them for about 15 minutes in your preheated 350° oven. Turn them once so they are toasted and dried evenly on both sides.
Remove the toast from the oven. Place your oven on Broil.
Remove the bay leaves and thyme springs from the onion soup and throw away.
I have some ovenproof crocks that I use and place them in a shallow pan. Now, ladle out some onion soup into each crock.
Place one or two slices of the toasted baguette on top of each crock of the onion soup and top the baguette with Gruyere slices and a sprinkle of the Parmesan cheese.
Place the crocks of soup under the broiler until the cheese is all melted and bubbly, about 2 minutes.
Dadgum, this sounds good! I’m getting’ hungry just talkin’ about it! Now, take it out of the oven and serve it up hot. And, if that don’t warm you up on a cold winter day, I don’t know what will! YUM!
By Dr. Mercola
Eighty-seven percent of U.S. adults say they like onions, which is great news since they’re one of the healthiest foods you can eat. Rich in vitamin C, sulphuric compounds, flavonoids, and other phytochemicals, an onion a day may help keep the doctor away.
Onions are surprisingly high in beneficial polyphenols, which play an important role in preventing and reducing the progression of diabetes, cancer, and neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases. Polyphenols also play an important role as a prebiotic, increasing the ratio of beneficial bacteria in your gut, which is important for health, weight management, and disease prevention.Onions contain more polyphenols than even garlic or leeks, and are one of the best sources of a type of polyphenol called flavonoids, especially the flavonoid quercetin.”
Onions Provide Disease-Fighting Quercetin
Quercetin is a powerful antioxidant with anti-inflammatory properties that may help fight chronic diseases like heart disease and cancer. In lab studies, quercetin was shown to prevent histamine release (histamines are the chemicals that cause allergic reactions.)
This makes quercetin-rich foods like onions “natural antihistamines.”