I loved French Onion Soup as a kid. It was my go-go order at a restaurant – always served in the brown handled crock. The salty/sweet and super-savory broth, the built-in crouton and Swiss cheese?!? Check! This hit all the marks. However, once I became a vegetarian I learned that key to [most] French Onion soups was beef broth – and not only dark broth that perhaps could be subbed with vegetarian broth; rather, actual beef broth (often complete with chards of beef in the broth). Needless to say, I haven't had French Onion soup in many, many years. I think I may have tried a veggie version in my 20's but was disappointed in it and so haven't attempted it since then.
This past weekend was starting to feel like fall and so I was browsing soup recipes online. One of my go-to vegetarian sites had a French Onion soup recipe and so I figured I'd give it a go! The recipe required 3 lbs of Vidalia onions – and slow cooking them over the stove for some time. The smell in the house was amazing and the ensuing broth was incredibly rich. It was *not* the same as the beefy broth of my memory; however, it was also not a run-of-the-mill veggie broth. This soup has a ton of flavor, and lots of options for topping it off. Rather than following the recipe's instructions for the cheesy bread topper, I tried thin slices of Gruyere one day, leftover garlic bread from the kid's dinner another day, and bagged croutons one night (not the hit). While it isn't the same as a traditional French Onion Soup, this one was a worthy recipe that offered me a different flavor profile than is found in standard veggie soups. Success!
