In continuation with my love for little pretty dishes, here was another I used my cast iron crocks for.

French onion soup and yet again the almighty grilled salad. Did your mouth water? This was SUPER quick, SUPER easy, and SUPER delicious.

My husband put this soup in his top 10 recipes and little does he know, I barely slaved over it…for that matter, I didn’t even put much thought into it!

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Since the quarantine restrictions have been lifted, I am going back to work Monday. I am assuming I will be busy, things will be chaotic, and I will be stressed out.

Therefore, I wanted to make my life easy and ensure we had meals ready to go when I got home from work so we can just heat and eat…

Or I could call my husband crying in the car to preheat the oven 🙂 let’s hope it’s not the latter!

While preparing multiple dishes at one time, I had ingredients and things ALL over my kitchen. When I started cleaning all my bits and pieces up, I realized I had a few random items I could use to make a quick and easy soup. Why not add one more dish to the 6 others I made?

I had a half to 3/4 carton of beef broth that I had used to make slow cooker shredded beef. I never really use beef broth except for beef of some sort in the slow cooker but didn’t want to waste it. I also had one sweet onion and one red onion left over so THOUGHT BUBBLE…onion soup.

It’s cozy, rich in flavor, cheesy, and makes me happy. Qualities my husband has as well.

I have never made it before and had no idea the basis but I know it’s got onions!

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Ingredients for my French Onion Soup for 2

• Olive oil
• Tablespoon of unsalted butter
• Sherry Vinegar
• One Sweet Onion Thinly Sliced
• One Red Onion Thinly Sliced
• 1/2 Teaspoon of dried Thyme
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 Bay Leaf
• Bread of Choice
• Cheese of Choice

Here is What I did

I heated a medium sized pot over medium heat with some olive oil and the butter.

Once the butter was melted I added the onions and let them sauté and caramelize. If they were getting too brown, I just added a splash of water.

Once they were tender and caramelized to my liking (about 20 minutes) I added a tablespoon or so of sherry to deglaze the pot making sure to scrape the bottom of the dish.

Keeping the heat on medium, I added the salt and pepper, as well as, the dried thyme.

I stirred everything to combine then added the rest of my carton of beef stock and bay leaf. I turned up the heat and brought the soup to a boil. I let the soup simmer for about 20 mins uncovered so it could thicken up a little.

While the soup simmered, I baked olive and rosemary ciabatta slices in the oven with a drizzle of olive oil until they were golden brown at 400°

I placed pieces of the toast inside the bottom of my crocks to soak up all the french onion goodness. I added the soup, leaving more room for the golden brown ciabatta bread and CHEESE. I used grated sharp white cheddar and mozzarella.

I put my crocks of soup on a sheet pan and returned them to the oven until the cheese was brown and bubbly.

I served my french onion soup with my favorite side dish, grilled romaine. My salad was dressed with a warm shallot, champagne vinegar, and white wine dressing alongside more of the ciabatta olive and rosemary croutons and shaved parmesan.

This dish was warm, salty, savory, rich, and delightful. Each spoonful was ooey and gooey and we didn’t want the dish to end. Who knew that a few remnants of meal prepping could lead to such an incredible dish?

Next time I will need to make more than two servings.