Nothing beats a bowl of traditional French Onion Soup on a cold Autumn day.  Get cosy with this very simple, cost effective and most importantly delicious recipe.

Serves 4

• 6 large brown onions
• 3/4 litre/ 750 ml beef stock
• ¾ litre/ 750 ml chicken stock (If you prefer a more meaty flavour just use beef stock)
• 1 glass red wine or white wine
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 100g butter
• Pinch of salt and pepper
• 2 bay leaves

• French bread
• Gruyere cheese – grated
• Garlic rubbed on
• Olive oil

You will also need:

A large saucepan

Ovenproof bowls if you have them, if not do not worry you can use normal bowls.

1 baking tray

To make the soup:

Finely slice all your onions.  Heat the butter in a large saucepan, add all the onions and cook on a medium heat until they begin to soften- 2-3 minutes.  Then turn the heat down to simmering and leave the onions to cook stirring occasionally for about 30 minutes.   When the onions have turned a dark brown colour and they are really mushy you can then start adding the other ingredients.

Start by stirring in the flour.  Once that has been absorbed pour in your wine and leave to cook for 2 minutes.  Then pour in your stock, bay leaves and season with salt and pepper.  Turn the heat up to boil and leave to simmer for another 20 minutes.

To make the croutons:

Slice your bread into thick slices; rub a crushed clove of garlic all over them, sprinkle with olive oil and pop into the oven for about 5 – 6 minutes or until hard and crispy.

Pour the soup into a heatproof bowl, top with a couple of croutons and pile on the Gruyere cheese.  Place the bowl in the oven under a hot grill until the cheese has melted.  You will need ovenproof bowls to do this.

If you don’t have ovenproof bowls you can simply make the croutons on a baking tray, top with cheese and then grill separately to the soup.  Once the cheese has melted simply pop a couple on top of your bowl of soup and serve straight away.

This dish goes so well with some extra French crusty bread… very comforting!

Watch how to make it below: