French onion soup

French onion soup (serves 3)

A rather troublesome dish to make, and the outcome could be improved. The recipe below has already included the tweaks I made.

French onion soup

Ingredients:

3 large white onions, thinly sliced length-wise (cut into half first)
2 sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves
0.5 teaspoon of salt
Butter
1 teaspoon of all-purpose flour
0.75 cup of white wine
4 cups of beef broth
1.5 cups of water
Black pepper
3 diagonal slices of baguette, roughly 1cm thick
Gruyere cheese

Instructions:

1) Put the butter into the pan (make sure it's big enough to hold all the onions) under moderate heat. Once it sizzles, put the onion, thyme, bay leaves, and salt in. Stir frequently and cook until onions are soft and brown. This should take around 20 minutes.

2) Add the flour in and continue stirring for around 1 minute. 

3) Add the wine in and continue stirring for around 1 to 2 minutes, then add the broth, water, and pepper. Stir and let it simmer for roughly 15 more minutes. Make sure that the onions inside are very soft. If the soup starts to dry up, add more water and wine. 

4) Place the baguette slices into a toaster oven and toast for around 5 minutes on each side, until the baguette becomes brown and crispy.

5) Preheat the oven to around 160 degrees for around 10 minutes. Pour the soup into a big pot (or several small serving pots) that can withstand oven heat. Toss the baguette slices in, then slice some Gruyere cheese and spread it over the soup. 

6) Take the pot out after 5 minutes, or when the cheese has melted and browned. Serve with a dash of black pepper.

As shown in the picture, my soup came out a bit too dry, so I tweaked the recipe above to make it more liquid. The onions were soft, but not soft enough, so I also extended the stir-fry timing of the onions as well as let it simmer longer in the soup.