Of course caramelized onions are delicious and when you add a really good mushroom stock to them, they achieve greatness. Dunking a hunk of toast with melted Gruyere cheese on top of it, well that's almost cheating!
I have been making a vegetarian Pho broth inspired by this blog, and since dried shiitake mushrooms are what give the broth its depth, I knew it would be perfect for a vegetarian version of French Onion soup. Yes indeed!
Make sure you use a crusty, rustic bread for your toast since any other less substantial bread will disintegrate too quickly in the hot soup. A range of cheeses will work, anything from Gruyere to Emmentaler to Swiss. I recommend making cheese toast rather than fiddling with putting your bowl of soup under the broiler.
For those who are curious, the glass of wine is Pouilly-Fuisse, and it was a perfect pairing!
