I came up with this because I needed to use up a lot of breadcrumbs, and one of the first things I thought about was doing a take on a French onion soup. Mostly because a few years ago on Masterchef season 10, my plating bestie Bri made one for a bread challenge, that while it did not do so well for the challenge, it inspired both of us to come up with a new dish idea with French onion soup as a launching point. In my case, I wanted to focus on caramelized onions, using the bread to either stretch out the flavor of that, add some texture, or body to the dish. In terms of the components themselves, we have a roasted-braised onion wedge, a caramelized onion-bread puree, a caramelized onion-miso jus, green onion-shiso herb oil, pangritata, and amaranth. This dish takes a French onion soup, imbrues a lot of different Japanese ingredients and one Italian technique throughout, and reconfigures it in a way where the onion manages to be the center focus of the dish, with the other components playing off of those caramelized notes. You can tell right away from looking at it that it is an onion dish, and you may even think it is either a deconstructed(still hate that word) or upside down French onion soup(which is honestly not too far off from the truth here). In my case, I just call it Japanese Onion Soup, since that is what this dish has basically evolved into.

The initial steps of the dish are near identical to classic French onion soup, starting out by slowly caramelizing the onions and adding some type of alcohol and stock to them once they are browned. I used sake and a miso and kombu-infused vegetable stock in this particular recipe to help add in that umami. I cook the onions down in the stock, then the onions are strained out and pureed with breadcrumbs to form this light, silky, velvety onion puree. The leftover liquid from the caramelized onions is reduced into a jus, and will braise some roasted onions as well – those roasted onions are first tossed in salt and sugar to cure them, just so that when I roast them in the oven, the exterior will get nice and caramelized while the insides will stay nice and tender. I adorned the tops of my onion soup dish with some pangritata, which is an Italian recipe, consisting of heavily seasoned breadcrumbs. It’s Italian for the “poor man’s parmesan”, since it is similar to cheese, while being made with bread instead. I used garlic and nutritional yeast in my case, just to add that pungent umami that will make the breadcrumbs taste like cheese, but being fully vegan. I also have an herb oil, made from scallions and shiso, and some amaranth sprouts to add some color on top.

For the sake-caramelized onions:
1 white or yellow onion, peeled and julienned
2 tbsp olive oil
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cooking sake

In a pan on medium heat, stir the onions, olive oil, salt, and sugar together frequently, until they begin to turn dark brown in color. Add in the cooking sake, and continue to cook on low heat for another 2 minutes, just to cook out the alcohol.

For the miso-caramelized onion jus:
Sake-caramelized onions
2 tbsp miso paste
1g kombu
1 cup vegetable stock

In a pot, bring everything to a simmer on low heat for 20 minutes, covered. Then remove the pot lid and continue to reduce by about half on medium-high heat. Remove the kombu at this time, and strain out the onions, reserving them, and continue to reduce the liquid down by half again.

For the roasted onion:
1 white or yellow onion, peeled and halved
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp salt
olive oil
1 clove of garlic

In a bowl, toss the sugar and salt liberally around the onion halves. Let the onion sit at room temperature, with the sugar and salt around it, for 10-15 minutes. Then rinse the excess sugar and salt off the onions, and pat the halves dry. Line a nonstick, oven-proof pan or a cast iron with olive oil. Place down the onion halves, flat side down, and add in the garlic clove. Broil for 10 minutes. Transfer the broiled onion into the pot with the onion jus, and allow the halves to sit in that jus on low heat, just to help braise them, for 10 minutes, with the lid on. Reserve the garlic clove for the pangritata.

For the onion puree:
Reserve caramelized onions
one part breadcrumbs to two parts of the caramelized onions
almond milk
a pinch of salt

In a blender, puree everything until combined.

For the pangritata:
reserved roasted garlic clove
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp nutritional yeast
a pinch of salt

Mince the garlic clove first. In a pan, start by toasting off the breadcrumbs, olive oil, yeast, and salt. When the breadcrumbs begin to turn golden brown, take off heat and stir in the minced garlic to finish.

For the scallion oil:
1 green onion
2 shiso leaves
olive oil
salt

Slice the green onion lengthwise into quarters. Blanch the onion and shiso in hot water for 10 seconds, then shock in cold water for another 10 seconds. Puree with oil and salt and pass through a sieve to remove any solids or lumps.

For garnish:
Microherbs(I used amaranth)

To start, add down 2 tbsp of the puree in the center of a shallow bowl. Then add in one of the braised onion halves. Garnish the sides of the puree with some of the jus and the scallion oil. Then to the top of the onion, add your pangritata and the microherbs.