Vegetable Love: Red Onion And Red Wine Soup With Tomatoes, Thyme And Heart Shaped Croutons

Susan at Fat Free Vegan had an interesting idea--prepare a low fat, vegan dish that would capture the romance of Valentine's Day.  I thought about this and had many ideas. But, I kept remembering how many of my friends always order French onion soup when they're on a date or out with their husbands for a fancy dinner.  You would think that the gooey, stringy cheese, and the impact of all those onions on one's breath would make this dish one to avoid in a romantic situation. But, that doesn't seem to be the case for many people. 

One thing some people would like to avoid is the amount of calories in a bowl of French onion soup, on average between 700-1,000 calories per bowl.   With that in mind, I offer this alternative from Deborah Madison:  Red Onion and Red Wine Soup, With Tomatoes, Thyme and Heart Shaped Croutons.  This is a lovely soup, slightly sweet, with a touch of sophistication from the wine.  The red hue seems very much a Valentine color, to reflect how passion makes the blood run hot and heavy.  Not everyone will think that the heart shaped crouton is an adequate substitute for mounds of runny cheese.  But maybe the calorie reduction, which brings a bowl of soup in at under 200 calories, will soften the blow?  I enjoyed the taste of this soup very much.  Sometimes less is more.

The soup is simple to make and takes about an hour in total to prepare.  There aren't many ingredients to conflict with the taste of the onions and wine.  The stock is simply water, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, and parsely.

As that cooks, two pounds of red onions saute until soft and wilted.

Red wine, tomatoes, garlic, and stock are added and after the soup has cooked and reduced somewhat, it's done.

Topped with a heart shaped crouton, this makes for a lovely soup. The weather has been very dreary and wet here, so this makes for a heart warming bowl of Vegetable Love.

Make sure to stop by Susan's site on Tuesday to check out all the other Valentine inspired dishes.

Red Onion And Red Wine Soup With Tomatoes, Thyme, And Heart Shaped Croutons

(Adapted from Deborah Madison's The Green's Cookbook)

The stock

1/2 teaspoon  dried thyme or about 3 branches of fresh thyme
8  bushy sprigs of parsley
3 bay leaves
3-4 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 teas. salt
8 cups water

Put all the ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil, turn heat to a simmer and cook for about 25 minutes.  Pour the liquid through a sieve lined with paper towels or cheesecloth.

The soup

4 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds of red onion, peeled and cut in half and then cut into thin slices
4 cloves of garlic,coarsely chopped or run through a press
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 pound fresh tomatoes, peeled and seeded, or 2 cups canned whole tomatoes, juice reserved
1/2 teaspoon salt
the stock
1 cup full-bodied red wine, (I used cabernet sauvignon)
pepper
Baguette for croutons
fresh thyme leaves for garnish

Warm the olive oil in a big soup pot and add the onions.  Cook on low heat, stirring for about 25 to 30 minutes until they're soft.

While the onions are cooking, pound the garlic in a mortar with the coarse salt (or smash it with a fork in a bowl).  Peel, seed, and chop the fresh tomatoes.  If using canned tomatoes, remove the seeds before chopping.  Strain the juice and reserve for the soup.

When the onions are soft, stir in the garlic, tomatoes, the 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 cup of the reserved tomato juice and 1 cup of the stock  Cover the pot and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes. Then remove the cover, raise the heat and add the cup of wine. Cook until reduced by half. 

Pour the remaining stock into the onions, bring to a boil, then simmer for 25 minutes, partially cover.  Adjust for salt and add pepper to taste.  Serve garnished with fresh thyme and topped with a heart shaped crouton.

Croutons.

Use dairy  and egg free French bread. Slice the bread and use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out hearts.  Place on a cookie sheet and bake a 350 degrees until browned slightly and toasty.

Comments

[gattina]

Sher, a great write-up!!! And an excellent recipe!

[SusanV]

Thank you so much for this elegant contribution to Vegetable Love. I agree with gattina--excellent write-up and recipe!

[mandira]

Sher, that is so creative and such lovely pictures. This is a must try for me. :) The Shepard's Pie looks amazing too!

[Tanna]

Holy cats! That is beautiful Valentines Onion Soup! Amazing!

[Julie]

Lovely! Very nice Valentine's Day choice --actually it would be a good choice for any day but that color really does make it appropriate.

[s'kat]

I just had French onion soup the other night. It has HOW many calories?!? And I thought we were being fairly healthy, oy...

Love the heart shaped crouton, and the healthy recipe!

[Garrett]

Holy heck, that looks so adorably cute!

[Jennifer]

I am impressed! What beautiful yet simple presentation! I seriously love your pictures. I feel like I could just grab the bowl from the picture. It's so crisp and clear (the picture).

[Alanna]

Very cute!!

[aria]

ohman! that is simply charming. i love it. i was uninspired to make sosmething sweet for valentines day. what a great idea to do a savory dish, i just want to pick that crouton up and hug it!

[aria]

ps, if finally rained last night. sleeping with the window open to listen was heavan :)

[Kristen]

What a lovely looking dish. Love, sweet love!

[Christine]

Very, very nice job Sher! I love the simplicity of the ingredients and I LOVE the heart crouton!

[kross-eyed kitty]

I wish I had known yesterday how many calories are in a bowl of french onion soup! Yikes!!! (and it was the first time I had ordered it in many, many years!)
This recipe looks exceptionally good, and looks like it is WW friendly! And perfect for Valentine's Day. By golly, I'm going to make it this week!

[sher]

Gattina,

Thank you! Deborah Madison is always reliable!

SUSAV,

Thank you! I'm looking forward to the Roundup. I bet there are a lot of interesting recipes.

Mandira,

Thank you! I hope you like it, if you fix it. :):) And glad you liked the Sheperd's Pie!

Tanna,

Thank you! My husband has been enjoying it a great deal.

Julie,

Thank you! My husband had another big bowl for dinner last night. If we have any left, I may save it for a base for stew.

s'kat,

Thank you! Yes, onion soup is often on those lists of food that can kill you in a restaurant. The list that takes all the fun out of dining!? :):) I hate that list!

Garrett,

Thank you. For Valentine's Day--adorable is the way to go.

Jennifer,

Thank you! I must give all the credit for the picture to my husband--he gave me a new camera for Christmas. It does all the work. Well, I do hold it! :):)

Alanna,

Thank you! I'm still searching for the right soup for your event.

Aria,

Thank you! I loved those croutons--glad you liked them. In fact, now I want to make croutons in different shapes! I'm crouton crazy! :):)

Kristen,

Thank you! It is rather passionate looking! :):):)

Christine,

Thank you! I too love the simplicity. It's a very subtle soup--and it would also make a great base for a more complicated soup.

Kross-eyed kitty,

Thank you! Yes, it's pretty shocking isn't it-the calories in a small bowl of onion soup. But, if you only have it once in many years, it's not too bad, eh? :):) This is very good, but it certainly isn't like regular onion soup. But, you could sprinkle some parmesan on the crouton and make it a tiny bit more like the real thing! :):)

[sandeepa]

Hi Sher
I love French Onion Soup but as you said i have to watch "you know what" :)before I eat it.
This looks like such a nice soup and so warm and the lovely red. Only one question, can we do something to substitute the wine, it's ok for me but if I want to make for the family, it might not be agood idea for the little one :)

[sher]

Sandeepa,

That is a very good question!!! I discussed it in my newest post. I was under the impression that alcohol burned off quickly in cooking. But, I did a little research and that is not always the case, as you probably already knew! :):) You could replace the wine with stock. Or you could use the grape juice that they use to make wine. They are less sweet and have a taste like wine--but they have no alcohol. They can be hard to find though. I'm glad you asked this question because I have learned something new and useful--thanks!

[Freya]

This is very cute! I was just saying I was starving for some onion soup as well.
-Paul