I am ashamed to admit that I had my 6 3/4 qt. Le Creuset oval dutch oven for over a year and never used it. Shame on me! I got it for a super deal at Costco and then put it away in my side table cabinet so it wouldn't get scratched in my regular pan cupboard~ then I forgot I had it. Oy. I broke it in by making french onion soup and have used it three times this week. It rocks!
The onions are starting to brown:
I took this photo and later saw that the bread bowl sucked up most of the broth. I added more broth before chowing down.
French Onion Soup
6 very large yellow onions, sliced
5 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 c. dry sherry
8 c. Beef stock
2 tsp. thyme
1 bay leaf
Kosher salt to taste
Fresh ground black pepper
Bread bowls
Gruyere cheese, shredded
Directions:
- Melt butter and olive oil in a dutch oven pot.
- Caramelize the onions in the fat mixture over medium low heat stirring occasionally. This may take over 40 minutes.
- Add sherry and cook for one minute.
- Add stock, thyme, and bay leaf.
- Scrape bottom of pan to loosen any hard bits.
- Bring to a slow simmer and cover for 20 minutes.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Cut tops off of bread and dig out most of the center. Place bread pieces next to the bowl for dipping.
- Ladle soup into bread bowl and top with the cheese.