One of the great joys of my childhood was having my mother read to me from Heidi. Heidi drank goat’s milk from a bowl for breakfast and had soup for dinner. In the Swiss Alps, Heidi enjoyed a feast that has sustained and nurtured people the world over for many centuries: soups, sometimes featuring the simplest of ingredients (as simple as some oats or flour, a nip of onion, and some broth or milk). Soups like this one have been made and drunk in France’s mountainous regions for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. All you need are some really flavorful ingredients, a creative mind, and a loving heart. Note: Don’t buy hard, flavorless tomatoes in the dead of winter and expect this simple soup to taste good! Use the best, freshest tomatoes you can find, preferably from your own garden, picked at the peak of ripeness on a late summer’s day. This is not a winter soup.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 4
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
In a large sauté pan, heat the oil and butter and sauté the onions over medium-high heat until golden brown, about 10 minutes. (I find it easiest to do this in two batches.)
Step 2
Salt the onions lightly, then sprinkle them with the flour and place them in the slow cooker insert. Add the tomatoes, wine, and water. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or until the onions are quite soft and flavors have had a chance to meld.
Step 3
When you are ready to serve the soup, adjust the salt to your taste, place a slice or so of bread in the bottom of each soup bowl, then toss in some of the cheese. Ladle some hot soup and vegetables over the top of the bread and cheese and serve.
Suggested Beverage
Step 4
I would enjoy either a dry, acidic white wine such as an Alsatian Pinot Gris or Riesling, or a good, fruity mountain red.
