French Onion Soup

French onion soup is one of my favorite go-to's for lunch. It's especially great during the winter time. What's really great about it too is that it's a relatively low calorie lunch - if you don't add all the croutons and cheese! Alas, I don't have that kind of will power haha. So here's my high-cal comfort food version...

French Onion Soup
2 Large yellow onions
2 Tbsp butter (I use Smart Balance)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tsp dried thyme
1 Bay leaf
1 Tsp cracked black pepper
4 Tsp beef base
8 Cups water
Balsamic vinegar
Garlic croutons
Melty cheese like provolone, mozzarella, Gruyere, etc.

• Cut the onions in half, then cut into strips.
• Add the butter, olive oil and onions to a large stock pot.
• Cook the onions over medium low heat for about 30 minutes until caramelized, stirring occasionally. This step does take patience and there's no way to speed up the process. It is critical that you do not add any salt. Salt will cause the onions to release their liquid which will hinder the caramelization process.
• Once the onions are caramelized, add the thyme, bay leaf, pepper, and beef base. If you've never heard of beef base, it's similar to bouillon but way better. You can find it just about anywhere, even Walmart.
• Give the onions and spices a good stir, then add the entire 8 cups of water.
• Continue to simmer, uncovered over low heat until the liquid has reduced by half, about 10 to 20 minutes. You can not skip this step. If you do, the soup will taste watered down. You may notice that the recipe calls for twice as much water as actually needed, that's why you need to simmer away half of the water. If you're wondering why we don't just start with 4 cups of water and skip this whole step, the short answer is that simmering out some of the water (also called "reducing") will give a soup or sauce a richness and depth of flavor that can't be achieved any other way. Just like caramelizing the onions, this step takes patience. Cranking the heat up to a boil to speed up the process will ruin the soup for sure.
• Once the soup has reduced and the flavor has reached the right concentration, remove the soup from the heat. Fish out the bay leaf. Give the soup quick splash of balsamic vinegar to brighten up the flavor a little bit.
• That last step would drive Matt insane. He's a very pragmatic kind of guy who requires empirical measurements. If you're like Matt and you absolutely must have an exact measurement, I'd say add about 1 teaspoon of vinegar - just a splash haha.
• Portion the soup into 4 oven-safe soup bowls or ramekins. Top with garlic croutons and cheese. Melt under the broiler until the cheese is bubbly and golden brown.

I didn't happen to have any wonderful provolone or Gruyere at the time this photo was taken. So, I used whatever I could find in my refrigerator which was pizza cheese. Don't judge me.