French Onion Soup

I saw a similar recipe on some BBC cooking show. I found a recipe on their website that I liked slightly better because of the amount of red wine and balsamic vinegar and adapted it. It's relatively easy although cutting the onions is a pain. The recipe calls for five onions but I think that European onions must be much smaller. I found that four big ol' merican onions was more than enough to fill my stock pot after I sliced them on the mandolin. I increased the saute time on the onions as well because the first time I made this the onions weren't soft enough for my liking. I used bullion cubes instead of stock because I didn't have any.









Ingredients:
4 large onions (sliced thinly on a mandolin if possible)
3 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons of butter
2 or 3 glasses (not cups--I think a glass is 4 ounces--I put about a cup in total) of red wine
4 cups fresh beef stock
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar (I might go down to 3 1/2 next time)
8 thick slices of bread
284g/10oz Gruyère, grated (I grated gouda that I had at the time and it was very nice with the soup)
2 shots of brandy (optional)
salt and pepper
flatleaf parsley (optional)

Peel and thinly slice the onions and garlic. Then using the butter sauté in a large pan for 15-20 (do 30 if you like softer onions in the soup) minutes, until brown. Stir well before adding the red wine, stock, vinegar and brandy. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Toast the bread (I just sliced a baguette and put the slices in the toaster).

Season the soup with salt and pepper.

Keeping the soup in the pan, top with the sliced bread and a sprinkle of cheese. Place under the grill until it turns brown and the cheese has melted.

Scatter with fresh chopped parsley and serve from the pan at the table