French Onion Soup & A Le Creuset Giveaway

This post is in partnership with Le Creuset. As always, all opinions are my own.

When my husband and I were first married I could barely cook a thing. We survived on
pasta, frozen fish and pizza. Luckily my parents lived near by and my mom would invite
us over for dinner from time to time or we may have starved!



About a year into our marriage I began reading cookbooks like novels. I was going to
figure this cooking thing out! I started requesting cookbooks for my birthday and
Christmas - Susan Branch and Martha Stewart were my favorites. I remember getting
Entertaining by Martha Stewart for Christmas in the early eighties and thinking -
wow this lady can do everything!

Over the years my cookbook collection has grown extensively and they did teach me
how to cook! Thank goodness we no longer eat boxed macaroni and cheese for dinner!
I still love to read cookbooks and I was super excited when I found out that Le Creuset,
my favorite brand of cookware, was releasing a Le Creuset cookbook!

The Le Creuset Cookbook: A Collection of Recipes from our French Table, has over
80 delicious recipes, such as salmon in puff pastry, brioche rolls and apple tart tatin.

French onion soup is one of my favorites, so of course, it was the first recipe I wanted
to try and it was just as delicious as I had hoped it would be! You can't go wrong with
caramelized onions, french bread and Gruyère cheese!

Whenever I make homemade soup, I always make it in a Le Creuset Dutch oven!
The quality of this French cookware can't be beat! For this recipe I used a 4 1/2 quart
Dutch oven in the color Marine. It is such a gorgeous color!

Le Creuset French onion soup bowls are perfect for this recipe. I opted for classic
white, but they are available in several colors. The bowls go right into the oven to
melt the shaved cheese and they help keep your soup warm long after it has reached
the table. 

The process of caramelizing onions does take some time, but it isn't difficult at
all and the flavor is well worth the effort! Did you know that you can freeze caramelized
onions? I had no idea, but I'm definitely going to do it so that I can have french onion
soup all winter long! Caramelized onions are also delicious on pizza!

If you're a cookbook lover like me, you'll definitely want to add the Le Creuset cookbook
to your collection!

GIVEAWAY CLOSED.

Now for the GIVEAWAY! Enter to win (US residents only) a 4 1/2 quart Le Creuset Dutch
oven just like the one I'm using in this post!

To enter simply leave a comment at the end of this post telling me your favorite
Le Creuset color. Make sure to leave your email address so that I can contact you if
you win. For an extra entry follow Me and My Pink Mixer on Instagram 
and leave your Instagram handle in a separate comment.

Contest ends October 30, 2017 at 12:00 pm EST.  Good luck!

Onion Soup

1/2 cup unsalted butter, plus more for the bread

3 pounds medium yellow onions, halved and cut into 1/4 inch thick slices

kosher salt

1/2 cup dry white wine

8 cups chicken stock

2 fresh thyme sprigs

1 dried bay leaf

freshly ground black pepper

4 to 6 demi baguette slices, cut on the diagonal 1/2 inch thick

1 garlic clove, halved

1 1/2 cups coarsely grated or thinly shaved Gruyere

garnish with coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley or thyme

In a Dutch oven over medium high heat, melt the butter. Stir in the onions and a

generous pinch of salt. Cover and cook until wilted, about 10 minutes.
Uncover and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin
to brown, about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue
cooking until the onions are very soft and deep golden brown, about 45 minutes.
Stir occasionally to loosen the brown glaze from the bottom of the pan.
Stir more often as the onions darken.

Deglaze the pot with wine, stirring to loosen the fond from the bottom of the
pot. Simmer until the wine nearly cooks away.  Stir in the chicken stock, thyme,
and bay leaf. Reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Discard
the thyme stems and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper.

Just before serving, preheat the broiler on high. Butter the tops of the bread
slices and broil until crisp and toasted. Rub the toast with the cut sides of the
garlic cloves. Leave the broiler on.

Ladle soup into French onion soup bowls or other oven-safe crocks, and place
them on a baking sheet. Float a slice of toast in each serving. Sprinkle cheese
evenly over the soup and toast, letting a little drape over the edge of the bowls.
Broil 4 to 5 inches from the heat until the cheese is melted and bubbly, 1 to 2
minutes. Garnish with parsley and serve at once.

Recipe reprinted with permission from Le Creuset.