Tomato Onion Soup from Zuni via Sally Pasley Vargas

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think French Onion soup?  Melted cheese, right?  I am the last person to object to melted cheese, but this onion soup is so bright and delicious it would be a shame to obscure it with anything.  I got the idea from the Cooking Lessons blog written by a fellow Bostonian, Sally Pasley Vargas.  The original recipe was from the Zuni Cafe cookbook, but since Sally's beautiful writing and photography were my inspiration for this dish, I decided to follow instruction from her post.  She even provides excellent step by step pictures.

Of course, I had to improvise just a bit.  What is a soup without a little improvisation?  I used all olive oil (no butter).  I added a little dry white wine to tomato onion mixture and simmered it for 5 minutes before adding stock.  I substituted rosemary with thyme.  I poached eggs in the soup on the stove top for about 4 minutes and poured into bowls over toasts.  This was sublime.  Sunny side eggs over caramelized onions and tomatoes is one of my favorite breakfasts, but the addition of the broth makes it 10 times more dunkable.

Since my kids have issues with seeing pieces of onions (they do like them, they just don't know it yet), I pureed some of the soup for them.  If you are looking for a great creamy tomato soup without any cream or butter, this is it.