French Onion Soup (of my dreams)

I teamed up with my friends at Fresh Start Fauxmage to bring you a couple of holiday recipes, starting with this French Onion Soup. This soup would be a gorgeous cozy addition to any holiday meal. When I set out to make a veganized French Onion Soup, I wasn't really sure where I would end up. It's a soup that I ate growing up many times. I have especially high standards when trying to create a recipe that tastes as good as or better than the one that exists in my memory. (I have a terrible memory for some things, but food memory is a completely different thing, and mine is on point!)  It is safe to say, that I would be proud to serve this soup to anyone.... 

The broth has so much richness, depth and flavour from the onions, red wine, herbs........

For the cheese I used a combination of Everything Bagel Style Fauxmage, and a shredded vegan mozza. While testing the recipe, I tried the fauxmage alone, then various other combinations along with the fauxmage. This is where I landed. The fauxmage gives the topping complexity, it's really falvourful, then the mozza somehow softenes the flavour of the fauxmage JUST enough, which somehow enhances and brings balance to the dish for me. It's not really that the combination of the vegan  fauxmage and mozza cheeses taste  like Gruyere cheese ( which I would use here if I wasn't a vegan) but it mimics something about the overall experience and flavour profile for me. My taste buds are just like YES, this is it...perfection.

If you don't live in Atlantic Canada, or where you are able to buy Fauxmage, just find your favourite plant based cheeses. Perhaps something artisnal is available that I can't get where I am. There's a lot of products out there. 

French Onion Soup with Everything Bagel Fauxmage
Serves 4

Soup Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs sweet vidalia onions , peeled & thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp vegan butter
• 2 tbsp veg oil
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 5 cups vegetable stock (homemade is best)
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 2 bay leaves
• sprig fresh thyme
• salt & pepper

Garnish Ingredients:

• 1 x crusty baguette (I like multigrain)
• Olive oil 
• 1 x container Everything Bagel Fauxmage
• 4 oz shredded vegan mozza 

Soup Method:

1. In a large soup pot over medium - low heat (you may need to adjust periodically) add vegan butter, veg oil and onions. Season with a couple pinches of salt and pepper. Give them a stir to coat in the oil, then allow them to cook slowly without stirring too often. This will allow onions to caramelize. Stir only as needed for about 45 minutes or until soft and golden & caramelized. Add chopped garlic towards the end to soften.
2. Now turn up the heat a bit higher than medium, and add tomato paste. Cook and stir for a couple minutes.
3. Add all purpose flour, stir and cook for a couple minutes longer.
4. Turn up heat to medium high, then deglaze with red wine, stir, then simmer and allow to reduce for a few minutes.
5. Add veg stock, bay leaves, a sprig of fresh thyme, soy sauce and bring to a simmer. Season with more salt and pepper. 
6. Simmer for about 30 minutes. Then I often like to let my soup hang out on low heat for a while to allow the flavours time to develop. 

Garnish/Assembly Method:

1. Heat oven to 425 F
2. For the baguette, cut thick slices to divide between 4 bowls. I like to have enough bread sliced to fully cover each bowl so that there is cheese over all of the soup, so you can plan to cut more than one slice per person and then cut the bread into halves to layer them into the soup bowls. This also creates height and visual appeal. 
3. Drizzle slices of bread on both sides with a bit of olive oil, place on a baking sheet and into the oven. Flip half way through. Keep an eye, you want both sides to be toasty and golden. 
4. Now ladle hot soup into oven safe french onion soup bowls. Top all pieces of toasted baguette with a generous amount of Everything Bagel Cheese. I just use a spoon to pile it on evenly, pressing it enough to adhere to the toast. 
5. Now divide cheesy toasts amongst the soup bowls. Sprinkle over top each bowl some shredded vegan mozza. A couple good sized pinches for full coverage. If you have fauxmage left you can certainly crumble a bit more over top. 
6. Now place soup bowls onto a baking sheet and carefully place them into the oven. Turn the oven to a low broil. Cook until cheese is hot and melty. 3 - 5 minutes. Keep an eye!