Italian Onion Soup Inspired by a Recipe by Sara Moulton

Last week’s newspaper included an “Italian Onion Soup” by Sara Moulton, someone I admire in the food world.

So, I tried it–well, that is, being Italian, I used her recipe as a guide and came up with one of my own. A key factor in her soup is the use of a poached egg instead of the usual swiss cheese and crouton topping for the soup.

She wanted you to poach the egg in boiling water with some vinegar in it–I used an egg poacher. These litte pans are great! Ours can do six eggs at once but you can get smaller ones for not too much money. You could adapt further and do an over-easy egg to put on top, but that would add grease.

Here is my recipe, with thanks to Sara Moulton (serves 4)

3 pieces of thick-sliced bacon

3 pounds of onions sliced thin–I used two vidalia medium sized and three standard yellow

2 T flat parsely

3 cans (15 oz) of beef broth, low sodium. I use swanson’s because there is no MSG

1/2 cup white wine

3 T olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

8 slices of whole wheat baguette, toasted for serving on side

pecorino romano cheese

four eggs to poach

 

In a dutch oven, saute the bacon. When bacon is done, remove to dish, leaving grease at bottom. Add the onions to the grease along with the olive oil and simmer slowly for about twenty minutes. Keep dutch oven covered but stir frequently. When onions are soft add the broth and the  wine.  Uncover and let cook, even boil a bit for about twenty minutes. Let the soup rest for an hour or so and then heat to serve. While soup is reheating, poach the eggs. Spoon into bowls, add a poached egg to each bowl. Before serving crumble bacon and sprinkle some pecorino romano over each egg. The whole wheat “toasts”  should be served on the side.

Sara’s recipe calls for red wine and more of it. I like a lighter version, This soup has more onions to the bowl than my sister-in-law’s French Onion Soup recipe.

This  is a bit more rustic. I made it even more rustic with the whole wheat bread.