Five-onion Soup With Scallion And Gruyere Croutons

Total Time: 1 hr 20 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• 2 large yellow onions, chopped (1/4 - 1/2-inch pieces)
• 2 red onions, chopped (as above)
• 4 shallots, chopped
• 2 leeks, halved lengthwise and sliced ( part only)
• 1 cup scallion, sliced ( part only, save greens for the croutons)
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• salt & fresh ground pepper, to taste
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cups red wine
• 8 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 gallon beef stock (rich, from beef bones roasted with tomato paste, like beef stock beef stock by txzuckerbaeckerin)
• 1 french baguette, sliced into 1/2-inch thick coins
• 3/4 cup shredded gruyere cheese

Recipe

• 1 in a large stockpot, saute the five onions, garlic, and a heavy pinch of salt in 2 tbsp oil until the onions are carmelized. deglaze with the wine. add thyme and stock to the pot. bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer for about an hour. adjust seasoning as needed, and remove the thyme stems.
• 2 shortly before the soup is finished, preheat the broiler. mix a generous amount of the scallion greens with the cheese. coat the bread coins with the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil, and place on the broiler pan. top each coin with some of the cheese mixture. bake in the middle of the broiler for about 3 minutes to melt the cheese, then move them closer to the broiler element to get the cheese brown and bubbly.
• 3 ladle the soup into a bowl, and top with several gruyere croutons. allow them to rest a bit, to soak up some of the soup, before eating.