Don't be chicken, it's just an onion soup.

I have been wanting to make onion soup for a while, but I know that it is traditionally made with beef stock, and I rarely get the chance to make that. Sometimes I forget that rules are made to be broken when it comes to cooking from the heart (with the obvious exception of some basic rules that apply to cooking with yeast & baking- consider these as fundamental as gravity). When I finally realized that no onion soup police would break down my door for not using the RIGHT stock, I planned out my onion soup based on chicken stock. With a bit of modification, I suspect that you could use any hearty broth that you have on hand to make a soup sure to warm the chill of Autumn right out of your toes. I served this with a Swiss & Parmesan cheese variation of a focaccia bread, and the leftover soup kept well in the fridge. The most time consuming part was definitely the onions, which I caramelized in three separate batches (it takes patience to get a really good caramelization that is not burnt- I pulled up a stool and kept them moving in a heavy pan on medium heat). In this case patience has its own reward.


• 3 large onions-finely sliced, chopped & caramelized
• 2 qts of hearty stock
• ¼ cup of white wine
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 bay leaf


Add the onions to the stock with the wine and herbs and allow to simmer, covered and on low. I cooked it until the soup had a lovely deep brown color and the onions were tender (while most of the work happens when you make the original stock or caramelize the onions, you still need to give the ingredients some time to blend). Add salt to taste towards the end. While this is simmering you can be making a bread; I like a bread of substance with soup, so focaccia is often my go-to. I found that I didn't have the right bowls to make a picture of this soup, so I will keep my eyes open in the clearance sections, and try to get a picture for you next time.




Showing this day 2010: Acorn Squash Cookies