Sous Vide French Onion Soup - Say What??

Total soup-aholics. Anything soup, we are down. So this week's request is another batch of broccoli cheese and a batch of french onion.

Soup is so easy. We do lots of salads, too. So when we are having a busy week, and we've had nothing but those kind lately, we do lots of soup and salad.

I got a huge head of broccoli at the grocery store for $1. Hawaiians take their produce pretty seriously so the local grocery stores go through things daily and if it isn't perfect, it gets discounted. I am flabbergasted by this practice but can't complain for a second because I will pick this up for soup almost every time. I mean, for a buck, why the heck not? I've posted that recipe before and it never fails me.

But since I have the sous vide going, why not make the most of it? I'm prepping the onions for french onion soup at the same time. We will eat the broccoli cheese soup tonight and do the french onion later this week. How quick and easy will it be when all I have to do is add a beautiful buttered french bread crouton, top it generously with gruyere and melted to perfection? Done and done! Freaking awesome.

Here's what you need for the make ahead caramelized onions, which is the base of my upcoming soup:
4-5 large onions (I used the big Maui sweet from Costco), sliced
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 tbsp Better than Bouillon Roast Beef, optional
pepper
~ 1 cup of white wine

1. Pile all of your onions in a large stock pot or Creuset, lid on and heat on medium. This will get your onions to start to sweat and release their moisture, which is what we want. Stir every once in a while.
2. When the onions have released some liquid, take the lid off and add a sprig of thyme, stirring. 
3. Once the onions start to dry a bit and turn translucent, add your white wine and better than bouillon and allow them to cook down a bit more. Do you need the btb? Um, yes. I mean it will probably be delicious even if you must forego it but trust me that it adds so much depth and a jar of this stuff can last a loooong time. It's worth every penny just to keep it around for when you need it.
4. Remove from heat and allow to cool before adding the onions and second fresh sprig of thyme to a ziplock bag. 
5. Remove as much air out of the bag as you can, then drop it like it's hot. Sous vide time.

Sous vide at 185 degrees F for however long it takes to get your onions dark enough for your tastes. I did mine overnight. This picture shows my starting point but it did darken up significantly overnight.

To make the French Onion soup:

1. Ladle out some of your caramelized onions into a soup crock.
2. Top with a toasted slice of your favorite bread, baguette or puff pastry if you're feeling fancy.
3. Sprinkle with grated gruyere or provolone. Gruyere is traditional and my favorite but Asiago, Jack, Swiss, any good melter will do.
4. Broil if you can give it attention, otherwise, bake at 450 F until brown and bubbly.

Nothing but shock and awe, baby. I will probably do this at least once or twice a month now. Tsunami was in love with it and said it was THE BEST french onion soup he'd ever had. A high compliment indeed. I was pretty impressed with it myself!