French Onion Soup

From Veg Out, MQ Publications, 2003.

Sometimes I ponder over what prompts a person to choose a particular dish. Frequently it’s done just by wandering along past the shelves in stores; other times it may be chosen by browsing through the pages of cookery books. This particular time it was decided from looking at the end of a stale baguette and wondering what to do with it.

French Onion Soup is an easy dish to make. About 500g onions were finely sliced. I used half red onions and half brown. A little olive oil and about a tablespoon butter were heated up in a large frying pan and the onions went in. The heat was turned down to low and the onions let gently fry until they had caramelised. It took roughly an hour.

The onions were transferred to a saucepan and a litre of stock added. A little of the stock was swirled around in the bottom of the frying pan to ensure that the brownings from the bottom were included. The soup was now simmered for another 30 minutes. It was checked for seasonings and 2 tablespoons dry sherry added. The soup was ready for serving.

The baguette end now played its part. The bread was sliced and placed under a grill until one side was toasted. It was turned over and grated Gruyere cheese sprinkled over the untoasted side. When the cheese had melted the soup was placed in serving bowls and the toasted bread slices put on top.

This is such an enjoyable and cheap dish it’s no wonder that it will always be one of the standard soups.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Green Soup

From Veg Out, MQ Publications, 2003.

In Veg Out this was called ‘Glorious Green Soup’. I thought I’d just settle for ‘Green Soup’. I was not sure whether the name meant the colour or the taste. Actually, on reading a little further I found that it meant the full-of-goodness flavour. I still settled for plain green.

A chopped onion was added to the pot with a little olive oil and sautéed for a few minutes to soften it. Then a large potato, peeled and cut into pieces, went in for a few more minutes. I then added 600ml water and a stock cube, brought the mixture to the boil, then simmered it until the potato was cooked.

While the potatoes cooked I finely sliced about a quarter of an iceberg lettuce, and sliced up the head of a bunch of watercress. This went into the pan when the potatoes were cooked, was brought to the boil again and then simmered for about 5 minutes. I let it cool a little and then used the stick blender to puree the soup.

A little milk was added and the soup was seasoned. A few leaves of basil were chopped and added. The soup was heated up but not boiled before serving.

Well, I think it was appropriate to leave out ‘glorious’. It was a pleasant soup. Peppery watercress is always a favourite and this one came with an underlay of the mild iceberg lettuce. The recipe called for Romaine or Cos lettuce and I think this may have been better having a little stronger flavour. Nevertheless it all went down well.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔