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FRENCH ONION SOUP
East meets west as miso and vegetable stock combine with onions and cheese to create a luxurious meatless variation of the classic onion soup. We developed this soup for our vegetarian friends and it has become a staple on the Fiddlehead menu.
Preparation Time: 1 hour (less if stock is already made) Cooking Time: 3 hours Yield: 4 main-course or 8 appetizer servings
Soup
2 tablespoons safflower oil 2 tablespoons olive oil
6 medium onions, cut stem to tip into thin slices (1¾ to 2 pounds) 1 cup medium-dry or dry sherry (substitute apple juice)
1½ teaspoons minced fresh garlic (about 2 cloves) 6 cups vegetable stock. Or substitute chicken stock if you are not vegetarian
2 dashes of Tabasco sauce 3 tablespoons tomato paste
4 tablespoons red or brown miso (often available in the produce section of your grocery store, or in oriental groceries and health food stores*)
½ teaspoon salt (or to taste) ¼ teaspoon pepper to taste
Croutons
8 slices day-old sourdough French bread or other plain bread
Garnish
8 slices mozzarella Cheese
8 slices Swiss cheese
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 325⁰F
Heat safflower and love oils in a large heavy bottomed pot over medium heat. Add onions, stir to coat with oil, and cook until they begin to become caramel colored. Add a bit of sherry, stir, and continue to cook slowly. As onions caramelize, add more sherry and stir to evenly distribute the color. Continue cooking slowly until all the sherry is used and onions are a rich honey color. (This process takes almost an hour.)
Stir in garlic, stock, Tabasco, and tomato paste. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 2 hours.
After soup has simmered for 2 hours, stir in miso and add salt and pepper to taste.
To prepare croutons: While soup is simmering, remove crusts from bread and cut into pieces that will fit neatly into ovenproof soup bowls. Lay pieces on a cookie sheet and dry them in oven 5 to 10 minutes, depending on thickness of the pieces. Set aside until ready to serve soup.
Preheat Broiler.
Ladle soup into 4 ovenproof soup bowls. Top each bowl with 2 croutons, then 2 slices of mozzarella and 2 slices of Swiss cheese. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese on each. Place under broiler until cheese has melted and turns slightly brown. Serve immediately.
