Green Onion Soup (with a vegetarian option)

First of all, I'd like to congratulate Tiffany and Phyllis for winning yesterday's contests. Tiffany gave me an interesting suggestion to try some green onion salsa, and Phyllis' name was drawn out of a hat from all of the comments on my Saturday post. They've both been presented with boxes of produce and I'm sure that they'll enjoy them.

In the next few days I'll be shifting gears a bit and posting more than just recipes, but for now, I wanted to share one of the meals I made over the weekend. After the contests on Saturday I still had a ton more green onions of my own, and while pondering the various options I had for preparing them, my mind kept going back to French Onion Soup. But that would be too heavy for such a nice spring weekend, so I started with slow-cooked onions as my base and went from there. I made a version with chicken pieces and broth on Saturday evening, only to hear multiple requests from friends to create a vegetarian version.

Green Onion Soup

1 stick butter

1 bundle (3-4 large, 5-6 medium) green onions, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

3-4 medium potatoes, quartered and sliced

6-7 soup ladles of vegetable or chicken broth, about 1.5 quarts

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and cook for 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally. When onions begin to brown slightly, add garlic, stir, and cook another 5 minutes. Add the potatoes to the mixture and stir to coat. Allow to cook for about 5 minutes and then add broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.

This recipe will make about 3 meal-sized bowls of soup and 4-5 appetizer-sized cups.