Onion Soup

I usually make a big pot of something on Tuesdays, and give some to a couple of friends who live nearby. Today, though, neither one was around, so I did something I haven’t done for years and years: I made onion soup. The recipe, a vegetarian (not vegan) one from Mollie Katzen’s Moosewood Cookbook, uses soy sauce instead of beef broth and much less butter than you’d find in Julia Child’s version, but it was still plenty buttery and good. I toasted some baguette pieces with oil and garlic, poured the soup over them, and topped the whole with gruyère which I put under the broiler to melt.

Back when I lived in Boston, translator Art Goldhammer would always make a big pot of onion soup on election night. Even this smaller amount was a lot of onions to slice and if I were to take up this practice I’d invest at least in a mandolin if not a food processor. And next time I’d brown the onions a little more to get the soup a darker color.