French Onion Soup with Mushrooms

Happy (belated) National Homemade Soup Day!  I had no idea that was a thing until just a few minutes ago, but it makes sense that it falls in February.  Who doesn’t love a bowl of hot soup on a chilly February night?  And luckily for us, National Homemade Soup Day also falls in the middle of our Soup-tacular Soup Post Extravaganza!  Yay for fortunate coincidences!

Speaking of coincidences, I just made French onion soup with mushrooms the other day.  French onion soup is like a miracle.  It is my fallback meal for those days when I open the fridge and find that it is almost empty.  On most occasions, even my nearly-empty fridge will still have several heel ends of sliced bread that for some reason always get put back in the bag; a hunk of mystery cheese that is not moldy, so I don’t want to throw it out, but I can’t remember when I bought it, so I am slightly apprehensive about eating it unless it is somehow cooked; and at least  half an onion.  Even with those scant ingredients, you have the start to a good French onion soup.  Add some mushrooms, and the results are amazing: light but very filling, with a rich buttery flavor.

I don’t know if I ever make this soup (or most soups) the same way twice.  It varies a lot with the ingredients I have on hand.  This particular batch used white mushrooms and yellow onions.

There are a couple of different ways to top the soup.  I generally use whatever bread we have on hand (in this case, sliced multigrain) and toast it until it is brown and crispy.  Then I place the toast on top of the soup crock, top with cheese, and return to the oven until the cheese is all melted.  For this bowl, I used a combo of mozzarella and Parmesan.

Apparently mozzarella melts down into the bowl a lot more quickly than Swiss or Gruyere.

At any rate, it was tasty, satisfying, and easy to make.  Plus I got to use a lot of ingredients we already had, so that is always a bonus.  A great soup to celebrate Homemade Soup Day!

French Onion Soup with Mushrooms

 

Save Print

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

35 mins

Total time

50 mins

 

Author: T at Cast Iron & Wine

Ingredients

• 1.5-2 Onions (depending on preference)
• 8 oz. Mushrooms
• 2 stalks Celery
• 2-3 Carrots
• Thyme, to taste
• Liquid Aminos, a few splashes
• Cumin, A Pinch
• 1-2 Bay Leaves
• Beef Bouillon, 2-3 teaspoons
• Butter, 1-2 pats
• Olive Oil, a few splashes
• Black Pepper and Salt, to taste
• Wine or Balsamic Vinegar

Instructions

1. Add a splash of olive oil to soup pot and bring to medium high.
2. Add onions and cook until they start to turn translucent.
3. Add mushrooms.
4. Splash with liquid aminos.
5. Add wine or Balsamic vinegar. Stir and simmer for a minute or two (until the wine reduces a little).
6. Add thyme, cumin and pepper. Stir.
7. Add butter, then cover pot and cook for a few minutes, until butter melts.
8. For the soup base:
9. In a blender, blend ½ onion, 3 carrots, 2 celery stalks, 3 cups water, and bouillon.
10. Stir blender mixture into soup pot.
11. Add bay leaf.
12. Simmer for approximately 30 minutes.
13. For topping:
14. Toast bread to desired crispiness.
15. Ladle soup into crock or other oven safe bowl.
16. Add toast to top of soup crock.
17. Sprinkle with cheese of choice.
18. Place soup crock in 400 degree oven and bake for 5-10 minutes, or until cheese is at desired level of bubbling.

3.2.2925