My favorite way to use up these onions in the winter is to turn them into French Onion Soup. It is a fast dinner when there are already caramelized onions and stock in the freezer. I usually use chicken or turkey stock for this soup despite beef stock being the classic component. I find it to be too clunky and I never have beef stock in the freezer. The Better than Bullion Company makes a beef base and presumably that would work well too in place of the stock, but I haven’t tried myself.

If you don’t have ovenproof dishes, you can cheat by melting the cheese on the toast in the oven and then floating the whole mess on the soup. I find it to not be quite as satisfying but would be better than no cheese at all.

16 oz caramelized onions

2 qts chicken stock

salt to taste

old baguette sliced into rounds and toasted

½ lb Gruyere cheese, grated

• In a medium soup pot, warm the onions and add the stock and a couple pinches of salt
• Taste and if it tastes too strongly of the onion base add a bit more water
• Warm till bubbling
• Turn on the broiler
• Ladle into an ovenproof bowl (traditional Onion Soup crocks are often available at thrift stores)
• Float the toast in the soup
• Top with the grated cheese
• Place soup bowls under the broiler and let the cheese melt and then brown
• The soup will also be bubbling and extremely hot
• Serve soon there after