"Here's my recipe for a lovely warming soup we will be making for our small Thanksgiving dinner for 26 people from ages 3 to 96!"
~ Dr. Peter Kadar + Lisa Brick
Find more recipes from The Cooking Cottage, Bucks County, PA
Recipe from The Cooking Cottage : http://thecookingcottage.org/2013/vegetarian-french-onion-soup/
This is a wonderful recipe, adapted from former Cooking Cottage guest chef and culinary extraordinaire, cookbook author Pam Anderson. The fabulous blog she keeps with her two daughters, Three Many Cooks, is here.
Recipe from The Cooking Cottage : http://thecookingcottage.org/2013/vegetarian-french-onion-soup/
The genius in the vegetarian conversion of this French Onion Soup recipe is found in its broth. Miso & red vermouth mingle with a high quality vegetable stock (we recommend the Kitchen Basics Organic line for all of your store-bought stock needs) to create the trademark depth of the rich beef broth we’re accustomed to in this classic soup. A high-quality crusty baguette will help elevate your soup into the out-of-this-world-delicious territory a good FOS should always inhabit.
*A note about cooking with Miso: I bought the red miso called for in this recipe at the Whole Foods in Plymouth Meeting, PA. Whole Foods stocks it in their refrigerated soy product section, and it comes in a plastic carton similar to a cottage cheese container. Miso is a staple in Japanese cooking, and comes in three basic varieties: white or yellow, red and black. It’s composed of fermented soybeans – as a general rule, the darker its color, the longer it spent fermenting and more intense its pungency. Because it’s a fermented product it will keep in your fridge for a very long time.. think a year plus. Miso is a nice addition to nearly any soup, it can be used in sauces and also makes very tasty salad dressings.
Recipe: Vegetarian French Onion Soup
Summary: This recipe, adapted from Pam Anderson’s, makes a deeply satisfying vegetarian version of the classic French Onion Soup by incorporating red vermouth and miso with a hearty vegetable stock.
Ingredients - modify as needed
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp olive oil, plus extra oil for brushing bread
4 large onions, about 2 ½ lbs, thinly sliced (a mandolin works well for this)
2 tsp. sugar
1 quart high quality vegetable broth
2 Tbsp flour
¼ cup sweet vermouth
¼ cup red miso
Salt to taste
18 slices nice crusty baguette bread (1/2 inch thick)
6 slices Swiss, Gruyere or Provolone cheese
6 Tbsp grated Parmesan
Instructions
Heat the butter and 2 Tbsp olive oil in a soup pot over high heat. (Don’t use a coated or non-stick pot, or you’ll have a very difficult time caramelizing your onions!)
Add the onions and sugar and cook over medium to high heat, stirring every couple minutes but being careful not to burn, until dramatically reduced and a light caramel brown, about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook onions, stirring frequently, until rich caramel, 10 to 15 minutes longer.
Meanwhile, heat broth in a saucepan until piping hot.
When the onions are fully cooked, sprinkle with the flour, mix it with the onions until a paste forms.
Stir in the vermouth and then the hot broth, using the liquid to deglaze the pot – scraping the bottom and sides with a wooden spoon to remove the tasty stuck-on bits and incorporate them into the broth.
Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook, partially covered, for about 5 minutes to blend the flavors.
Whisk in the miso, allowing it to “bloom,” and adding water as necessary to achieve a lightly thickened soup. (This is important – now that your miso is added, do not let the soup boil. Like yogurt, in contains living probiotics and enzymes and you don’t want to kill them.)
Taste the soup, and if it needs it add a little salt.
When ready to serve, adjust the oven rack to the middle position and turn the broiler on high.
Lightly brush both sides of the bread slices with oil and arrange on a baking sheet. Toast under the broiler, turning once, until golden brown on both sides, a couple of minutes per side. When broiling something, keep an eye on it – it will go from perfectly toasty to charred very, very quickly.
Place 6 ovenproof soup bowls on a rimmed baking sheet. Ladle the hot soup into the bowls. Top each with 3 toasts, a cheese slice and then grated Parmesan. Broil until the cheese is melted and spotty brown, 2 to 3 minutes.
Preparation time: 15 minute(s)
Cooking time: 45 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 6
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