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one ordinary oven-safe bowl of brown onion soup with long soft onion strands around a single baguette slice covered in melted golden-brown Gruyere, with no beef pieces, herbs, extra bread, cream or garnish
Andre Lewis

Vegetarian French Onion Soup

Start the onions and shallots in the oven so they soften and brown across a broad roasting pan before becoming soup. Stir them at intervals, especially around the edges where the sugars darken first. A good vegetable broth keeps the bowl vegetarian, while sherry adds depth after the onions are fully tender. Toast the baguette before adding cheese so it doesn't dissolve as soon as it meets the broth. The Gruyere-covered slice should soften underneath while retaining a browned top you can break with the edge of a spoon.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 55 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 15 minutes
Servings: 6
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 2 1/2 lbs yellow onions thinly sliced
  • 8 oz shallots peeled and thinly sliced
  • 3 tbsp unsalted butter melted
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 3/4 tsp fine salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/3 cup dry sherry
  • 6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 1 dried bay leaf
  • 6 baguette slices 3/4 inch thick
  • 6 oz Gruyere cheese made with vegetarian rennet grated

Method
 

  1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Toss onions and shallots with melted butter, oil, salt and pepper in a large roasting pan, spreading evenly.
  2. Roast for 70 to 85 minutes, stirring every 20 minutes and more often near the end, until softened and deeply golden without blackened edges. Transfer the onions to a soup pot.
  3. Pour sherry and 1/2 cup of the measured broth into the still-warm roasting pan and scrape up browned juices with a wooden spoon. Add this liquid to the soup pot with remaining broth, thyme and bay leaf.
  4. Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, toast baguette slices on a sheet in the 400°F oven for 6 to 8 minutes until crisp, then heat the broiler.
  5. Discard bay leaf and divide soup among 6 broiler-safe bowls set on a rimmed sheet. Top each with one toast slice and an equal share of Gruyere, then broil 6 inches from the heat for 2 to 4 minutes until cheese bubbles and browns.
  6. Let bowls stand for 5 minutes before serving and warn diners that the bowls remain hot.