SRC Onion Soup

I'm excited to say that the Secret Recipe Club has once again led me to an awesome blogger. Juls lives in South East England and blogs at Pepper and Sherry. Juls is a twenty something catering student. My first glance at Juls blog was one of, 'oh no' what can I cook.
By most standard Juls and I are eons apart. She lives half way around the world, is young enough to be my child and cooks with items unavailable in my smallish mid western town. But actually the more I read about Juls the more I realized we were alike. We both use cooking as a therapy, it really can heal the soul. There is a certain joy in gathering fresh ingredients, chopping, dicing and cooking. Smelling wonderful scents and tasting. And then sharing these labors with those we love.

I had to laugh at Juls response to her boyfriends dislike of onions. "I like onions", she stated, "and I will cook with onions". I had a similar problem 36 years ago when I married my hubby. I'm happy to report that Juls boyfriend and my hubby both now like onions!
Juls doesn't care for cumin which is interesting because my hubby calls cumin 'the stinky armpit' spice. I use it anyway--in moderation.
So, take a moment and get to know Juls, I would love to sit down and have lunch with her. Thank you Juls for letting me stalk your blog this month!
So what did I make from Juls blog? Well Onion Soup of course. I've wanted to make something like the restaurant version of French Onion Soup. But I didn't want an inch of chewy cheese and soggy toast. So thanks to Juls Onion Soup Recipe I made a perfect version for me.

Onion Soup

• 4 large onions
• 1 pint chicken stock--I used 4 cups (I like a lot of broth)
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary (I had fresh bay leaves)
• 3 tablespoons red wine (omitted--non drinker)
• 1 tablespoon Worcester sauce
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Optional: slices of baguette and grated emmental.

METHOD:

1. Heat up a little butter on a low heat in the saucepan and finely chop the onions into half rings.
2. Add the onions, minced garlic and rosemary to the pan, cover for ten minutes.
3. Take the cover off and cook very slowly on this low heat to caramelise – it should take about forty five minutes until all the onions are soft, sweet, stringy and brown. (I had to cook an extra 30 minutes--my low must be too low).
4. Add the red wine and Worcester sauce and cook into the onions.
5. Pour in the stock and season.
6. Preheat your grill and cut some slices of baguette and sprinkle on about half a handful of grated Gruyere on each. (I melted the cheese under the broiler. Cut the cheese toast into croutons and floated a few on the hot soup).
7. Serve the soup into bowls and place the baguette slices and cheese on top and put the bowls under the grill for about five minutes until the cheese is bubbling and golden.
8. Remember the plates are hot so remove with gloves and serve the bowls on plates.