Survey: raise your hand if you've ever ordered French Onion Soup from a restaurant envisioning a bowl of richly flavored broth, filling the room with the smell of caramelized onion, and topped with all the Gruyere your little heart could desire. Now raise your hand if, instead of a bowl of ambrosia, you received the equivalent of a slightly more aromatic chicken stock topped with a few sad, half-melted strands of pre-grated Safeway Swiss, alongside a chunk of day-too-old baguette. If you associate French Onion Soup with chain cafés, believing that this is a quintessential example of this dish, you probably haven't been super motivated to attempt it on your own (sorry Panera Bread). Or maybe you've never thought of it because, frankly, it just doesn't sound that interesting - I mean it is just onion, bread, and cheese in a simple stock, right? Wrong...Continue Reading