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Wednesday, October 23, 2013

French Onion Soup for One

I had some stale leftover bread and decided to make French Onion Soup for One. If I was making a big batch I'd be torn between Tyler Florence's recipe and The Pioneer Woman's recipe. Since I was just playing with making a bowl for myself, I used what sounded good to me.
I didn't have wine, vermouth or sherry (and figured Miller Lite wasn't an option:@), so I opted out of adding any alcohol to my soup. Cheese... they say Gruyere or Swiss is best, cheddar was in the fridge. Provolone would always be my personal first choice.

French Onion Soup for One
One yellow onion, bigger than a baseball, peeled, cut in quarters, then sliced 1/8" thick
1 tsp butter
1 tsp olive oil
small pinch salt
1 small clove garlic, minced fine
1 very small pinch of dried thyme
2 tsp flour
couple drops of Worcestershire Sauce
a few grinds of black pepper
1 1/2 C beef broth-I used water with about 1 1/4 tsp Beef Better Than Bouillon
1/2 tsp vinegar, I had cider vinegar, balsamic or red wine would be nice 
Crusty bread sliced 1" thick
Cheese
  1. Heat butter and oil in 3 quart pot over medium heat. Add onion, a little pinch of salt and stir to coat. Allow to cook slowly for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent and beginning to turn a golden color. Take your time and enjoy this folks, it smells great:@)
  2. Add garlic and thyme, cook for 5 minutes more, stirring constantly.
  3. Sprinkle on flour, stir to incorporate the flour well, cook for 1 minute. 
  4. Add Worcestershire, pepper and beef broth, mix well and bring to a boil, reduce to simmer for 10 minutes. 
  5. Remove from heat, stir in vinegar (don't forget the vinegar, especially if you don't use wine) and fill your bowl.
  6. Toast a thick slice of bread under broiler (add butter if you'd like). 
  7. Cheese: You can either add cheese to the top of the bread, melt it under the broiler and then add it to the bowl (as I did) or float the bread in the bowl and then add the cheese and toast it under the broiler (if you have oven safe bowls). 

23 comments:

  1. For many years during our marriage my husband traveled and I was forced to cook for one. I found it very challenging (should have said frustrating). What a clever idea to make onion soup for one serving. Works for me. I don't know BJ, but my heart goes out to her. I can't image how awful it would be to lose my blog.
    Sam

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  2. This is one of my favorites and the favorite of my best friend's daughter. I am going to be sure and copy it. Thanks!

    xo,

    Sheila

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  3. This is one of my favorite soups as well and I see you changed a couple of things and it was still okay. I pinned it. Thanks.

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  4. the bud light made me laugh! :) i do feel bad for bj...

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  5. LOVE this recipe, Lynn. You are quite resourceful!! I did find our pal BJ and am following, I think Blogger and Google are out to get us. I can no longer link posts to Google + unless I give up some things and I am not ready to part with anything yet. lol xo

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  6. Love French Onion soup and this looks so good! I did not know about bj's blog so glad you gave her new link!

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  7. That sounds delish! You made me laugh about the Miller Lite...

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  8. HI Lynne Love French onion soup so will try this one.

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  9. Hi Lynn,
    your recipe made me smile. Thats the way I mostly cook: to substitute ingredients instead of the recommended ones. The results are mostly as good. Love your soup. I haven't ha it for ages.
    Best greetings, Johanna

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  10. I have never made French onion soup from scratch even though DH loves it & will order it anytime it is on the menu. I bed I could control the sodium levels better if I made it at home for him. Thanks for telling us how your version worked out. Oh & thanks for telling us about poor BJ & her blog. I wish I knew enough about techy stuff to help her get it back. I bet she wanted to cry!

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  11. It's so long since I've had onion soup, any soup really, usually I get mine out of a packet I just lazy I guess.
    Merle.............

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  12. Awww, sweet Lynn, thanks so much for spreading the word of my air head move. I am so mad at myself for letting this happen...I had NO idea that if I changed email to gmail, I'd lose control of my own blog. Crazy....anyway, due to blogger like you, I am going to be just fine. Thanks, again...
    and now, if I only have an onion in my fridge, I'm making this soup. :))
    hugs, bj

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  13. This is pure comfort food! And as long as the bread is covered with cheese almost any will do!!!!

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  14. French onion is one of my very favorite soups. This looks wonderful!!!
    yum
    xo

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  15. How awful about BJ!! I had that happen to me twice and it was sickening, but both times it came back - no explanation!

    Your soup looks so fabulously rich. How nice to have a recipe for one or two. We are struggling a little on the change over in cooking for two - going back 34 years!

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  16. French Onion Soup for One sounds perfect Lynn, it might be my lunch today or tomorrow :)

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  17. Well you had me at the "for one" part. How did she loose a blog? Poor lady.

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  18. Love onion soup, never thought of making it for one! Yummy meal!
    Jenna

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  19. Hi Lynn,
    I have been hungry for some good onion soup and yours looks delicious. We have all the onions from our garden so this is a great recipe to try. Hope you are having a great weekend and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
    Come Back Soon!
    Miz Helen

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  20. French onion soup craving solved!

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  21. Great recipe! I didn't believe that I could eat the whole thing so I told my bf I was making him dinner. Ended up eating it all by myself! Lol! I had red wine so I substituted a half cup of veggie broth for the wine. And I tore up a slice of provolone for the topping. Delicious!

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