Onions

Onions must be one of the most versatile foods on the planet. I know some people don’t like them and pick them off of things like pizza and burgers. Raw onions can definitely have a potent scent and flavor. But onions are inexpensive and cooked into tons of main dishes – it would be murder to be allergic to them – same with garlic. Garlic and onions have both been shown to reduce intestinal cancer.^[1] You know, I forgot to mention last Monday in the garlic discussion to prep your garlic first when cooking. When the garlic sits about ten minutes after you chop or squish it and before heating, it activates the nutritious compound called allicin that protects against cancer.

My grandma told me if you put a piece of bread in your mouth when you’re cutting an onion it won’t make your eyes water but I never tried it. I use Vidalia or large, sweet onions so crying isn’t an issue. Green onions have 100 times more phytonutrients than other onions.^[2] It’s the green portions that are the best for you, so use the onion from one end to the other.

In today’s recipe I’m using some large, sweet, organic onions. When I first started making onion soup in the slow cooker, I used to put in four cups of water and four beef bouillon cubes. Man, that’s disgusting. This is what’s in a beef bouillon cube:

Salt, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Sodium Bicarbonate, Monosodium Glutamate, Sugar, Beef Fat, Water, Cooked Beef, Onion Powder, Dextrose, Corn Maltodextrin, Hydrolyzed Corn Gluten Protein, Hydrolyzed Corn Protein, Hydrolyzed Soy and Wheat Gluten Protein, Calcium Silicate, Disodium Inosinate and Disodium Guanylate, Dextrose, Hydrolyzed Torula and Brewers Yeast Protein, Caramel Color, Lactic Acid, Hydrolyzed Wheat Gluten, Soybean Oil, Natural Flavor, Silicon Dioxide, Artificial Flavor, Soy Lecithin, Tricalcium Phosphate, Propyl Gallate, FD&C Red 40, Alpha Tocopherol (Antioxidant), BHA (Preservative), Corn Oil, BHT (Preservative), Citric Acid.

Basically that’s salt, salt, and more salt, with MSG a few different ways, and red dye with preservatives. Bouillon cubes should not be in your house unless you can find the organic ones which have no gluten or MSG, but you still get almost 2000 mg of sodium per cube. Notice that the nutritional information on the bouillon cubes may be for 1/3 of a cube.  Look for low-sodium broth in the box instead. You can use vegetable broth if you don’t like beef broth, or combine them. You caramelize the onions first; I do that part the night before. Add liquid depending on how thick you want the onions; I like a lot of juice.

French Onion Soup
4+ Vidalia or other sweet onions, thinly sliced
3 T butter
2-3 crushed cloves garlic
1 T white wine
4-6 C organic low-sodium beef and/or vegetable broth
2 t Worcestershire sauce
2 C water
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper
French bread slices
Swiss/gruyere cheese (~1/2 lb, sliced or shredded)

Put the sliced onions and butter in a pan or the pot of your slow cooker, cover, and cook 15 minutes. Remove the cover and add the garlic and wine. Brown the onions & garlic until they’re turning golden/browning, about another 5 minutes. Add everything else, stir, and cook on low for the day (6-10 hours).

Ladle the soup into bowls and top with a thick slice of bread and cheese. Broil for a few minutes until brown & bubbly. You can toast the bread separately or broil the cheese on toast and then set it on top if your soup bowls can’t go in the oven.