VeganMoFo – Unofficial Soup Week continues at The Depanneur – French Onion Soup

Foursquare tells me it’s been at least three months since I’ve been to The Depanneur (fondly known as The Dep) but I’m glad we went over there last night. JC and I were trying to figure out what to do for date night on such a grey and rainy evening, and I saw a Dep Facebook post about daiya being an option so were’ with their onion made by Lisa Kates of afoodgypsy (they also sell her soups in Jars to take home at the Depp as well and out of the Culinarium)

Every Tuesday Len (the owner) cooks up a pot of something, and occasionally those things are vegan or have a vegan option (more often than you might expect.) So this evening there was a big pot of french onion soup, sliced sour dough bread from Nice Buns, topped with either non-vegan cheese or daiya and baked/broiled for a few minutes before being placed in the soup. The result was delicious.

Really. The soup was really quite remarkable (and worked really well with the daiya) and inspired us to start talking about and thinking about making some French Onion Soup sometime this season for ourselves. I started looking for fellow vegans that might have made french onion soup, and of course, there were lots! But one of the more interesting things I came across was the French Onion Soup Sandwich over at The Vegan Adventures of Maggie and Ben. That needs to happen.

Here is a not-vegan recipe from Micheal Rhulmann, but it needs only a minor modification. Interesting reading and a good discussion about the history, and technique and something I felt was important to mention – the onions make their own base, they don’t need stock (but they might need wine..)

The soup deserves this high praise not only because it’s delicious and satisfying, but because it was borne out of economy. This is a peasant soup, made from onions, a scrap of old bread, some grated cheese, and water. Season with salt and whatever wine is on hand or some vinegar. Do not be tempted to use stock! Even if it’s really good homemade stock, it will detract from the economy of the dish, which can easily become too heavy and cloying. (And please don’t add the canned stuff. How many onion soups have been ruined by adding store-bought broth?) more

I’m looking forward to trying my hand at making some soon.

Speaking of Onions, considering I’m going to TEDxToronto this week, this video just made me laugh and laugh.  I can’t wait!

Info about The Depanneur
1033 College Street, Toronto, ON M6H 1A8
(416) 828-1990 ‎
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