Best Paula Deens Beefy French Onion Soup Recipes

PAULA DEEN'S FRENCH ONION SOUP

Steps:

• Saute onions and garlic in oil over low heat until tender and golden yellow.
• Sprinkle flour over onions, cook a few minutes more, browning the flour well.
• Add stock and wine and bring to a boil, add thyme and bay leaf.
• Reduce heat, cover, and simmer gently for 20 minutes or so. Add salt and pepper, to taste.
• Meanwhile, slice French bread into 3/4-inch slices and butter both sides. Toast slices on griddle until golden brown.
• Ladle soup into an ovenproof bowl, add toasted bread and cover with cheese.
• Place ovenproof bowl on a baking sheet lined with tin foil.
• Bake at 350 degrees 4 or 5 minutes under a hot broiler.

PAULA DEEN'S BEEFY FRENCH ONION SOUP

Steps:

• In a slow cooker, toss the onions with the butter and sugar. Cook, covered, on high heat, until the edges begin to brown, about 90 minutes.
• In a large skillet over medium-high heat, warm the oil until shimmering, about 1 minute. Add the beef and brown, stirring occasionally, 5-7 minutes. Transfer the beef to the slow cooker. Add the sherry to the skillet and scrape up the browned bits. Add the pan juices to the slow cooker along with the broth, Worcertershire sauce, salt, thyme, bay leaf, and pepper to taste. Simmer, covered for 2-1/2 hours on high heat or 7 hours on low.
• Uncover and simmer for 1 hour more, until thick. Remove the bay leaf.
• When ready to serve, turn on the broiler. Ladle the soup into flameproof bowls and divide the cheese over the tops. Place the bowls on a baking sheet and broil until the cheese is melted and bubbling, about 3 minutes. Serve hot.

FRENCH ONION SOUP: THE COOK'S ILLUSTRATED WAY

Steps:

• For the soup:.
• Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 400°. Generously spray inside of heavy-bottomed large (at least 7-quart) Dutch oven with nonstick cooking spray.
• Place butter in pot and add onions and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, covered, 1 hour (onions will be moist and slightly reduced in volume).
• Remove pot from oven and stir onions, scraping bottom and sides of pot. Return pot to oven with lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until onions are very soft and golden brown, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours longer, stirring onions and scraping bottom and sides of pot after 1 hour.
• Carefully remove pot from oven and place over medium-high heat.
• Using oven mitts to handle pot, cook onions, stirring frequently and scraping bottom and sides of pot, until liquid evaporates and onions brown, 15 to 20 minutes, reducing heat to medium if onions are browning too quickly.
• Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until pot bottom is coated with dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes, adjusting heat as necessary. (Scrape any fond that collects on spoon back into onions.)
• Stir in 1/4 cup water, scraping pot bottom to loosen crust, and cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes.
• Repeat process of deglazing 2 or 3 more times, until onions are very dark brown.
• Stir in wine and balsamic vinegar, stirring frequently, until wine evaporates, about 5 minutes.
• Stir in broths, 2 cups water, the thyme, bay leaf and parsley (tied with twine or wrapped in cheese cloth for easy removal from pot) and 1/2 teaspoon salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust on bottom and sides of pot.
• Increase heat to high and bring to simmer.
• Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes. Remove and discard herbs, then season with salt and pepper to taste.
• For the croutons: While soup simmers, arrange baguette slices in single layer on baking sheet and bake in 400-degree oven until bread is dry, crisp, and golden at edges, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
• To serve: Adjust oven rack 4 to 6 inches from broiler and heat broiler.
• Set heat-safe soup bowls or crocks on rimmed baking sheet and fill each with about 1 1/2 cups soup.
• Top each bowl with two toasted baguette slices (try not to overlap) and divide Swiss cheese slices, laying them in a single layer, if possible, on bread.
• Sprinkle each serving with about 2 tablespoons grated Asiago cheese and broil until well browned and bubbly, 7 to 10 minutes.
• If using regular soup bowls, broil the toasts and the cheese only and then place the toasts on top of the soup.
• Cool 5 minutes and serve.

THE BEST FRENCH ONION SOUP

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a very large Dutch oven or pot over medium heat. Add the onions, bay leaves, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt, and a few grinds black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are very soft and light golden-brown, about 1 hour. (The onions will begin to stick to the bottom of the pan and turn brown after about 30 minutes; just keep scraping them up and stirring them into the rest of the onions. If they are browning to quickly, lower the heat.)
• Add the wine to the pot, bring to a simmer and cook until it has almost completely evaporated, about 4 minutes. Add the beef broth and 1 cup of water, bring to a simmer and cook until the flavors come together and the soup is rich, about 45 minutes. Remove the bay leaves. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Keep the soup warm on a low burner or cool completely and refrigerate to reheat later. (The soup can be refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 1 month.)
• Preheat the broiler. Place four soup crocks on a rimmed baking sheet and fill them about 3/4 of the way with hot soup. Float a slice of baguette on top of each and cover with 1/2 cup Gruyere. Broil until the Gruyere is golden brown (don't be alarmed if some soup bubbles out), 2 to 3 minutes.