Hearty French Onion Soup with Fire Roasted Bell Peppers and Gruyere Baguettes

I like to cook, especially when the weather turns cold.  Cooking is therapeutic for me.  You can probably make this soup in much less time than it took me.  I spent most of the day in the kitchen preparing this dish.  Most of that time was spent hovering over two pans of onions making sure that they cooked slow enough to release the flavors.  Slower is always better when cooking onions.

I reviewed Onion Soup recipes from three different cook books and I listed those book at the end of this post**.  As usual, I changed things up, made some additions and made it my own.  One point of interest is that I used no butter or oil in this soup.  To saute the onions, I substituted no fat reduced sodium beef broth for olive oil and butter.  If you haven't yet, please sign up for this blog and let me know what you think.

Hearty French Onion Soup Fire Roasted Bell Peppers with Gruyere Baguettes

1. Heat 6 tbs of beef broth in a large skillet and gently sweat the 2 1/2 lbs of onions for about 60 minutes* over low heat until soft.  
2. While the onions are cooking, heat 4 tbs of beef broth in a skillet and slowly saute the remaining 1/2 lbs of onion stirring often.  Add broth as needed to keep the onions moist. Once the onions are soft and translucent, add 1 tbs of Marsala cooking wine and sprinkle the Splenda brown sugar blend and garlic over them and continue to cook until the onions are golden brown and set aside.
3. Add the Riesling and 1/2 cup of the beef broth and bring to a boil.
4. Transfer the mixture to either a blender to  puree or a heated soup pot and use an immersion blender to puree until smooth.
5. With the mixture back in the soup pot, add the remaining beef broth, sliced fire roasted red peppers, sherry, brandy, salt and pepper and simmer for 5 minutes.  Stir in the sauteed onions and keep warm over medium-low heat.
6. Prepare the baguette, ladle the soup into a bowl and float the toasted bred on top.  Serve immediately.

*Don't rush the onions.  Their sweetness emerges through long gentle cooking.

Baguette Lightly toast the sliced baguette on          one side under the broiler Flip the slices over, spread with         mustard and cover with grated           Gruyere    cheese Broil until the cheese is melted

Ingredients 2 1/2 lbs + 1/2 lbs yellow onions              peeled and thinly sliced; 2 32 oz containers of fat free reduced                sodium beef broth; 1 tbs Marsala cooking wine 1/2 cup Riesling wine 1/2 cup cooking sherry 4 tbsp Brandy 16 oz jar of fire roasted red peppers,        sliced into narrow strips 1 tbsp Splenda Brown Sugar Blend 2 cloves garlic Salt and pepper to taste; 8-12 thin slices French baguette lightly    toasted 1 tbsp spicy brown mustard; 1 1/2 cups shredded Gruyere cheese

 

**"A Treasury of Great Recipes" by Mary and Vincent Price (my all time favorite cook book)

Page 46; Soupe 'A L'Oignon (Onion Soup)

"The Complete Book of 400 Soups" Consultant Editor: Anne Sheasby

Page 501; French Onion Soup with Cognac

"Soup for Every Body" by Joanna Pruess with Lauren Braun RD, LD

Page 34: Hearty Onion Soup