French Onion Soup

America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

2T unsalted butter
5 medium red onions, halved and sliced thin
2t minced fresh thyme or 1/2t dried
salt
1/4c balsamic vinegar
6c chicken broth
1-3/4c (1 can) beef broth
2 bay leaves
pepper
1 baguette, sliced 1/2 inch thick
8 oz Swiss cheese, shredded I used Swiss/Gruyere mix

1. Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions, thyme, and 1/2 t salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are tender, about 30 min.
2. Stir in the vinegar and scrape the browned crust from teh pot. Stir in the broths and bay leaves. Bring to a simmer and cook for 20 min. Season with salt and pepper to taste and discard bay leaves.
3. Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and heat to 450. Arrange oven safe soup bowls on a rimmed baking sheet and ladle the soup into them. Top each bowl with 2 baguette slices and sprinkle each with 1/4c cheese. Bake until the cheese has melted, about 5 min.

My husband is a big fan of French onion soup, so I figured I'd give making it a go. The red onion added an interesting flavor--not that it was bad, just different from what we're used to. Overall, I liked this recipe and I'm happy to learn that it was easy to make too. I plan to play with it a bit, though, or maybe try other recipes and compare.