French Onion Soup

Autumn time is a great time for soups I think...it's chilly, windy, and you just need comfort food. I had tons of onions from my garden and some were starting to 'grow' again in my pantry and I needed to use them  up. I thought why not make French Onion Soup. I have never made it before, and I've actually only eaten it maybe once in my life time, but I'm ALWAYS up for trying new things. I found a recipe that looked good on Tasty Kitchen Food Blog and one on Allrecipes.com that had a lot of good reviews. But honestly, the one on Tasty Kitchen didn't have many seasonings in it, and the other didn't use as much onion, so I took what I thought sounded good from the two recipes and this is what I came up with. It was YUMMO!!! I served this as a starter dish for my Sunday afternoon dinner. We had grilled steaks and steamed veggies after. It would be good just as a light supper alone too. I will definitely make this again! Give it a try!

French Onion Soup
1 stick Butter
4  Large Onions or 6 medium, halved (cut from root to tip) and sliced in thin strips
1 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Dry White Wine --(I found cute little bottles of Sutter Home Pinot Grigio Wine, exactly one cup size bottles, worked perfect then you don't have to open a huge bottle of wine, since I don't drink it!) The alcohol cooks out after all, but you can leave this out if desired and use more Chicken broth.
4 cups Chicken Broth
4 cups Beef Broth
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 heaping teaspoon minced garlic (2 cloves)
1 teaspoon Thyme
1 Tablespoon dried parsley
1 bay leaf
1 Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
4 thick slices French Bread or Baguette
8 slices Gruyere Cheese (or you can use Swiss, I like Gruyere)
1/2 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Melt butter in heavy soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add the onions and teaspoon salt and cook covered for 20 minutes. Place soup pot with the onions in the oven with the lid slightly ajar to ensure the onions will brown. Allow this to cook in the oven for 1 hour, stirring at least once during the cooking time so the onions won't stick and burn.
Remove pot from the oven and place back  on stove-top over medium heat. Stir, scraping off all the brown, flavorful bits. Turn off the heat and pour in the wine. Turn the heat back on to medium, bring this mixture to barely a boil, and simmer for 5 minutes, allowing the wine to reduce slightly and the alcohol to cook off. Next, add the broths, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, Thyme, Parsley and Bay leaf. Bring this to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for 30 to 45 minutes.
Now while your soup simmers for that last 30 minutes, preheat your broiler. Slice enough of your french bread for the amounts of servings you need. I was making 3 bowls, but I had a baguette so I cut 3 slices of bread per bowl (you want the top of the bowl to be covered by bread and cheese). Place on a baking sheet and broil for 2 to 3 minutes per side until it's browned and crispy. Remove from heat but don't turn off the broiler yet.
When soup is done, remove the bay leaf, then add the Balsamic Vinegar and season with salt and Pepper to taste.
Arrange oven safe Ramekins (or small oven safe bowls, I used 3, use as many as you need so everyone gets a bowl) on a baking sheet. Ladle the soup into your bowls to about an inch from the top. Place crispy bread on top of the soup, then comes 2 or 3 slices of the Gruyere cheese, and then sprinkle a Tablespoon or 2 of Mozzarella cheese on top of that.
Broil for 5 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and golden brown.
Serve Immediately. Enjoy!!