Enormous Onion french onion soup...

Ok. I have to get this down, because I just invented it today. Pretty much the best soup ever. Deep, rich, like restaurant soup but less salty, and completely meatless. What’s the trick? Homebrewed beer, and Miso.

We had an ENORMOUS onion delivered from our CSA, and I was inspired. So here’s what I did:

1 enormous onion (about 5 cups of chopped onion, no joke!)
2 T olive oil
1 T butter
4 cloves garlic, pressed
6-8 cups vegetable broth (see below!!)
1 T soy sauce
1 t sugar
day old crusty bread
mozzarella cheese

Put 2 T olive oil and 1 T butter in a large saucepan over med heat.
Chopped the onion and threw it in there. I let it sweat for about 15 minutes.
Added 4 cloves of garlic, pressed.
Cooked for another 4 minutes or so, until it started to smell yummy and garlicky.
Covered, and reduced heat to low, and simmered for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, I made pretty much the best vegetable broth ever.

1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and sliced thin
1 celery heart, including leaves, chopped
2 large cremini mushrooms, diced fine
3 garlic cloves, pressed
1 bottle homemade stout,
8 cups of water,
2 bay leaves,
2 t dried thyme,
shake of red pepper flakes,
salt and pepper,
1 T olive oil
1 T red Miso

Saute onion in olive oil over medium heat until soft. Add carrots, celery, mushrooms, bay leaves, thyme, red pepper flakes. Saute until they start to color and produce ‘fond’ on the bottom of the pot.

Deglaze the pan with the entire bottle of beer. Simmer until nearly all the fluid is gone. Add the water, stir. Add the miso, stir. Season to taste. Let simmer a few minutes so the flavors can blend.
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Add the broth to the onions. I did this by setting a sieve over the pan, and slowly pouring the broth through. Only a couple of carrots ‘escaped’. I fished ‘em out with a spoon.

It was a little flat, so I added 1 T soy sauce, and 1 t sugar to brighten up the flavors.

Add some day-old french bread slices, some thinly sliced mozzarella cheese, and broil, if you have the patience, or just eat the gooey goodness without browning the cheese.

There you have it. One of my favorite foods of all time. Authentic richness and flavor, no beef required.