May 10th, 2009
Thyme and Red Onion Soup
Although it’s supposed to be spring, I was inspired by the cold and wet this week and decided to make soup. Although I’ve been a soup-making fanatic for several years now, I’m a bit ashamed to say I’ve never made a good onion soup. I had a package of thyme in my fridge so this soup recipe seemed the way to use it up. Because of the large number of red onions to cut up, I recruited Dave to do the deed. His eyes stung, but I had a plate of beautifully sliced red onions.
Onion soup relies on good quality ingredients and this recipe relies on simplicity but does have a few added touches that make it simple to make but gorgeous to look at (ahem, red wine?). After a day at work, it’s great to come home to make a soup that calls for red wine – not that I should need an excuse to open a bottle. A little for me on the side always helps with the cooking creativity.
As suggested by the cookbook, I served the soup with goat cheese (I actually subsituted feta from the fridge) and crusty french bread. And we didn’t let the rest of the bottle go to waste. On a rainy evening the soup was divine – not too heavy, but full of flavour. Because there was so few ingredients, each one contributed significantly to the flavour. I tossed in probably several times more thyme than the recipe called for and we both loved the strong flavour.
It was, however, a bit on the runny side, even with the addition of cornstarch. Perhaps not a first date or boss entertaining item, as it got a bit slurpy, with the long pieces of onion. The leftovers, after being in the fridge for a few days, tasted even better.
