This recipe comes from my friend Dev. He makes this when he comes out here from Ohio to visit.
Here is the recipe with my suggestions that I do at the bottom.
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon oil
3 large onions - sliced
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons flour
5 (16-ounce) cans beef broth
2 1/2 cans water (empty broth cans)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup Port wine
3/4 cup Burgundy wine
French bread
Mozzarella, Gruyere or Swiss cheese
Directions:
In large soup pot, melt the butter with the oil. Add the onions and cook until translucent. Add sugar and flour, cook for 1 minute. Add beef broth, water, salt and pepper. Simmer for 30 minutes. Stir in wines, simmer for 2 hours.
Preheat broiler To Serve: Pour into onion soup crocks. Place a piece of French bread on top. Cover bread with choice of cheese. Place in oven and broil until cheese is melted and bubbly.
My suggestions:
FIrst off, I only use broth and no water (richer flavor) so I just buy enough extra broth to replace the water. Also, I usually add about 3 - 5 or more beef bullion cubes to the pot to get a good rich broth flavor to the soup. I usually add some then wait a while and taste then add more. Second, I usually use about 6 - 8 onions (1/2 white, 1/2 valdalia). I then add a little more sugar and flour (1 tablespoon each) because of that. For the wines, make sure you use a Port wine and not at Tawny Port (has brandy in it - good to drink but not in this soup!). Also the Burgundy wine is better known as a Pinot Noir. You can buy cheap wines since you are cooking with then but sometimes bottom of the barrel isn't the best but I wouldn't go too much more than $10 a bottle for them unless you plan to drink the extra! The Port wine will come with a t-cork and you can close it back up and it will last for a long while (year or more easily). For the cheese, I use both Swiss and Mozzarella. I buy slices of swiss with I place on top of the bread and then I buy shredded Mozzarella (pizza cheese) and put that on top of the swiss.
Devon