Onion Soup

I know, I know...you are thinking, "Why the heck would I want to make soup when it's so stinkin' hot outside?" I had the same thought...but then I made it anyways. It was a combination of having all the right ingredients, wanting to use my Walla Wallas before they went bad, wanting to make something new, and...well, boredom.

So last night, after the girls went to bed, I decided to make this soup. I had ripped the recipe out of those original Everyday Food magazines, and it had been in that stack I told you about before. It's a very simple recipe, and it only took about an hour from start to finish. I halved the recipe since I only had four good onions. The original recipe calls for serving it with Cheese Toasts, but I just poured it over some toasted Italiano bread that I had left over from the night before.

I'm giving you the whole recipe, which claims to serve 8. I would guess from how much I left from my half recipe, that that would be 8 small servings. If you are going to serve this as your main dish, I would guess that you shouldn't expect more than 6 healthy servings out of it.

2 TBS butter
2 TBS olive oil (I actually forgot the oil)
4 lbs onions (about 8), halved and thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
coarse salt and ground pepper
1/2 cup port or Marsala wine (I used port)
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) beef broth
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) chicken broth

1. In a heavy 5 quart pot, heat butter and oil over medium heat. Add onions and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions have softened, 12 to 15 minutes.

2. Uncover and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are dark golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes more. If bottom of the pot gets too dry, add about 1/4 cup water and scrape up browned bits with wooden spoon. (I had to do this twice...I think I probably added about 1/8 cup of water at a time. But then again, I forgot the oil, so that might explain the need for the water.)

3. Add the port and cook until syrupy, about 3 minutes. (I'm not sure what "syrupy" is supposed to look like. It never looked syrupy to me...just purple. I waited until it didn't seem watery.) Stir in broths and 2 cups water, season with salt and pepper, and bring to simmer. Serve with or over bread or cheese toasts.

Initially, I thought the soup had too much liquid to onion ratio, but I realized that when I poured it over the bread, every bit of liquid was sopped up. So, I guess the ratio is ok. And it was really really tasty.

Enjoy! (But I understand if you don't want to be a freak like me and make this in the summer. Go ahead and wait until the weather turns cooler!)