Bite Me: Sunday Fronday

Sunday is unquestionably the second-worst day of the week. First prize obviously goes to that bastard Monday but Sunday might actually be worse in that you know you have the day off but you still have to go back to real life in just a few short hours.

That's why I advocate for comfort food all day on Sunday, from pancakes in the morning to a soul-satisfying entree for dinner at night.

I also like soul-satisfying entrees that don't involve a metric shit-ton of work, like the whole chicken I tangoed with last night. But that's another story.

Hello, gorgeous.

So what is this magical Sunday Fronday? Three words for you, babe:

French.

Onion.

Soup.

Also known as Fronion soup when I'm too lazy to type all that out.

A rich beef broth smothered in toasted baguette and oozy, melted Gruyere and parmesean makes my heart beat just a little quicker.

I was having a terrible craving for restaurant-style fronion soup and so I looked up a recipe and was pleased to see that not only is it pretty low-maintenance, it also has fewer ingredients than I thought it would. The recipe I used called for the addition of vermouth or dry white wine and I really liked what it did for the soup base. I didn't have dry thyme or a bay leaf so I just used my herbs du Provence mixture. If you have mixed Italian seasoning this can also be a substitute. I also used a hunk of beef and bone that Tommy had cooked the other night which made the flavor much richer. Plus while the soup simmered, the beef fell of the bone and mingled with the onions and...well, damn.

There are two things I'll say here before we get started. The first is that if you really want amazing Fronion soup you have to shell out for the good beef stock, not the off-brand one that's only a buck fifty. If you're fancy you can make your own but I think it takes a long time and I have no idea how to do it so you're on your own there. The second is that you should add more stock and wine than you think you'll need because the baguette will soak up a lot of it and then you'll be left with more mush than anything else.

With those two provisos in mind, let's make some Fronion soup.

Ingredients:
6 large yellow onions, peeled and chopped
3-4 tbs. olive oil
1/4 tsp. sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
8-10 cups beef stock
1/2 cup dry vermouth or white wine
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp. dry thyme
Cracked black pepper
8 slices well-toasted (but not burned) french bread
1 1/2 c. grated Gruyere and parmesean

1. In a large soup pot, saute the onions in the olive oil on medium high heat until well-browned but not burned, about 30-40 minutes. Add the sugar about 10 minutes in to help with the caramelizing.

2. Add the garlic and saute for 1 more minute. Add the stock, wine, bay leaf and thyme (and beef/bone if you have it). Cover partially and simmer until the flavors are well blended, about 30 minutes. Season with pepper and discard the bay leaf.