French Onion Soup

A quick check of my stored onions and it looks like I have enough until July--unless I come up with some meals using lots of onion.  So it's French Onion Soup for lunch.  I took a good recipe several years ago, doctored it up, and it's been one of my favorite soup recipes ever since.  I often suspect that recipes like this originated with someone who also had lots of winter onions in store.

Onion Soup + Homemade Pepper Cheese + Homemade Bun =

Delicious French Onion Soup

French Onion Soup

6 cups beef broth with 6 cubes of beef boullion dissolved in it

  or 6 cups beef boullion prepared with 6 cups water & 8 cubes boullion

2 huge onions (or 3 large onions), thinly sliced

1 large clove of garlic, minced

1-2 Tablespoons butter (enough to brown onions)

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup white wine (optional)

1 teaspoon sugar

pinch of dill weed

small pinch of celery seed

(very) small sprinkle nutmeg

4 thick slices French bread (buttered & toasted)

8 slices Swiss cheese (4x4)

--In large fry pan, slowly cook onions in butter over very low heat until soft. Add garlic, celery seed, dill weed and continue cooking until onions turn light brown (caramelize). Add remaining ingredients and bring to boil. Turn heat down low and simmer, covered, for 20-30 min. Ladle hot soup into 4 bowls, top with 2 slices of the cheese and then the bread; or put bread in first, top with cheese and put under broiler until cheese melts.
Note: cooking onion on low heat for a long period of time dissolves some of the strong sulfur compounds and breaks down the onions' natural sugar, resulting in mildly sweet onions that are deep brown in color