French Onion Soup

 

French Onion soup is one of those classic soups that I used to think were overrated, until now.

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!

French Onion Soup
(serves 4)

2 lbs onions, peeled, sliced in 1/4 inch half moons
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups mushroom stock
1 tablespoon sherry 
salt
pepper
4 slices crusty bread
4 ounces gruyere, sliced

In a large, heavy bottom skillet such as a cast iron pan, add butter and onions and heat over medium low heat, covered for 15 minutes. Lift cover, add salt and stir onions well, recover for another 10 minutes. Remove cover and stir again, and turn heat down to simmer. Check every 5 minutes as they begin to brown and caramelize; this process may take 30 to 40 minutes, but you want the onions to be a deep caramel brown color, but not crisp. Once they are caramelized, deglaze the pan with the sherry, and transfer onions to a larger pot and add stock. Bring the stock to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook 10 minutes to integrate flavors. Season with salt and pepper and serve with cheese toast.

Hugs!