This is the soup to make on a blustery day when you feel like being in the kitchen. It is yummy and healthy as the butter in most French Onion Soup recipes is replaced with Winterhill Extra-Virgin Olive Oil. It takes some time, but so worth the effort.

Tips; More onions are better than less. Caramelize, caramelize and then caramelize some more! Feel free to improvise with adding a shot of wine or cognac. You may want to pour yourself a nice glass of wine as you stand at the stove and caramelize.

Serves: 4-6

3 Red Onions

2 White or Yellow Onions

1/3 C Winterhill Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

1 ¼ tsp sugar

4 cans Beef Broth (14 oz cans)

Ground Pepper to taste

Gruyere and/or Parmesan cheese (chards or coarsely grated)

Sour Dough Baguette

Chopped parsley for garnish

Slice onions into thin or medium thick slices. Medium is best and so much easier! Medium slices also give a much fuller taste.

In a large stick-free skillet, over medium heat, cook onions in the olive oil. After Onions cook a bit and become limp, sprinkle them with sugar and stir well.

Caramelize onions thoroughly until most of them are a rich brown color. They need constant attention at this stage. Continue turning them over and over, allowing about 45-60 minutes (this is where that nice glass of wine comes in as you stand there caramelizing).

Remove any onions that have burned (you really shouldn’t have any or very few burnt ones if you have been turning them over and over).

After onions are done, add a can of beef broth to the skillet and stir well to get all of the caramelized flavor mixed in. DO NOT DRAIN OFF SKILLET, and pour everything into a stock pot.

Add the rest of the beef broth and bring to a SLOW boil. Add fresh ground pepper to taste. Turn down the heat and simmer for 30-45 minutes. Let the soup cool down and then heat it up again prior to serving. If soup is too thick for your taste, just add more beef broth.

Cut Baguette into 1 inch thick slices for large croutons. Lightly brush with Winterhill Extra-Virgin Olive Oil and place on a cookie sheet. Toast well in oven.

Serve: Ladle warmed soup into bowls, add crouton. Sprinkle on cheese to taste, stick under the broiler to melt the cheese and crisp out the crouton. If your bowls won’t take the broiler, sprinkle cheese on the croutons on the cookie sheet and CAREFULLY broil. Then place the cheese topped crouton on top of each bowl of soup. Garnish with parsley if desired.