Red Onion Soup

Red Onion Soup

This soup was inspired by a soup we had in Florence on our honeymoon a few years back. I reseached a recipe but was unsuccessful. The closest recipe I found was one called  carabaccia, a supposed pre-cursor to French onion soup brought to France by Catherine di Medici.

I used the bones of that recipe to try to replicate the soup I had in Florence. The results still don't capture what I remember but, they are unique and have been well received.  This soup is very rich and is worthy of a dinner party or a holiday dinner.

2 lbs of red onions sliced thin on a mandolin to 1/8 of an inch

3 Tbs unsalted butter

a tiny pinch of cinnamon

1 Tbs of red wine vinegar

1 Tbs of honey

6 cups of good beef bone broth

4 ounces of blanched raw almonds, pulverized in a food processor

2 cups whole milk

2 cups of grated pecorino romano, with ½ cup set aside for serving

1/2 teaspoon black pepper and maybe a bit of salt

1 or 2 Tbs of  your best extra virgin olive oil for swirling on the top of each serving

1. Cook onions for what seems like forever in the melted butter in your heaviest pan over medium low heat, stirring regularly. Don't rush this. You should give it about an hour for this process making sure the onions never get too brown, but just melt into themselves. 

2. Add the remaining ingredients, except the oil and pecorino for individual servings. Using a hand blender, puree the soup in the pot. Add salt to taste only after you have added the pecorino romano.