NCR - Onions etc Round-up

For this month's edition of No Croutons Required, I asked you to create a soup or salad suitable for vegetarians which features the allium family.

You could choose one or feature several. Onions, shallots, leeks, spring onions, garlic or chives.

This is what you came up with:


1. Spinach with Fried Garlic and Caramelized Onions
Soma (eCurry)

Soma came up with a vision for the eyes and the senses with this salad. Onions slowly caramelised with sesame seeds, garlic and dry red chili, then add to this some wilted spinach and add a squeeze of lemon and you have a dish that Soma describes as "simple, comfort food from home", but I would call it a delicacy.

Plano, Texas, USA


2. Potato Salad with Shallots and Chives
Lucie (Cooking at Marystow)

There is almost nothing I love more in the summer than a good potato salad. It just conjures up picnics and barbecues in my mind and makes me think of long, hot summer days (this is the optimistic part of my brain).

There is no mayonnaise to be seen in Lucie's potato salad, which is good news for our hips. Just new potatoes, shallots and chives in a lovely vinegary, mustard dressing. Mmmmmmmm!

Midlands, UK


3. Roast Onion & Lemon Thyme Soup
Me (Tinned Tomatoes)
(not in vote)

For my entry, I decided to make an onion soup. It's been ages since I enjoyed a good onion soup and with my dad coming for a visit and his love of onion soup, it seemed like the perfect choice. I decided I would roast my onions to give the soup a more intense flavour. I roasted red and white onions, garlic and lemon thyme, before whizzing up and adding vegetable stock, dried thyme and seasoning. I served my soup topped with cream and chives. Much slurping and contented sighs followed. An exceptional soup for little cost or effort.

Dundee, Scotland


4. Bean & Barley Soup
Usha (Veg Inspirations)

Like all good soups, Usha's Bean & Barley Soup is started off and flavoured with onion, followed by a host of lovely ingredients, including, ginger, barley, tomatoes, carrots and pinto beans.

A really hearty and nutritious meal in a bowl. Gorgeous!

North Carolina, USA

5. Roast Onion Soup
Lucy (Nourish Me)

Another Roast Onion Soup, but very different from my soup. Although Lucy started her soup of the same way by roasting the onions for maximum flavour, she went off in a alternative direction with her flavourings. This is a creamy onion soup, spiced with kaffir lime leaves, garlic, ginger, chilli and tamari paste, smoothed out with coconut and rice milk and finished off with a squeeze of lime. Doesn't that sound amazing? It puts my simple onions soup in the shade!

Melbourne, Australia


6. Very Garlicky Vegetable Soup
Johanna (Green Gourmet Giraffe)

Let's get the question of "how garlicky?" over with first. 16 cloves of garlic yes, you heard me right, I said 16 cloves of garlic! But do not fear, these cloves are thrice blanched which mellows the flavour. Along with all that garlic there are leeks, carrots, celery, swede, potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes and cannellini beans. All cooked into deliciousness and topped of with a lip-smacking amount of parmesan and parsley. Nom, nom!

Melbourne, Australia


7. Creamy Potato Leek Soup
Inji (My Cookbook Notes)

Inji made her own vegetable boullion for this soothing soup and it sounds just as tasty as the soup itself.

This is another simple, but comforting soup of few ingredients. Potatoes, leeks, thyme, milk, salt and pepper. Just what you need on a wet day, here in Scotland.

Atlanta, USA

8. Italian Onion & Bean Soup with Parmesan Toast
Lisa (Lisa's Kitchen)
(not in vote)

Doesn't that look amazingly good? And look at that crusty toast smothered with parmesan. I am drooling here! Cannellini (white kidney) beans, are cooked with a bay leaf vegetable stock and a whole red chilli, before joining the rest of the soupy goodness. Sweet onions, garlic, arugula (rocket) leaves and lots of lovely wine, red and white. This soup just gets better and better!

London, Ontario, Canada

9. Creamy Onion Soup
Sweatha (Tasty Curry Leaf)

This is the simplest soup you could imagine, a great soup for a beginner to try out. Easy, but full of flavour and creamy, but not full of cream, instead Sweatha has been kind to our waistlines and finished her soup off with milk.

Bangalore, India


10. Roasted Shallots and Apricot Salad with Goat's Cheese
Mangocheeks (Allotment 2 Kitchen)

I was bowled over when I saw this salad. I don't know what it is with Mangocheeks, but sometimes I think she is in my head. She always makes just what I want to eat. It's spooky, I am telling you!

Long Echalion shallots roasted in balsamic vinegar, add these to baby beetroot and marinated goats cheese. The goat's cheese was marinated overnight with, orange juice, apricots and walnuts. Oh good golly!

West of Scotland

11. Potato, Corn & Leek Chowder
Sarah (The Ordinary Vegetarian)

You probably won't believe this but I have never tried chowder. I have never eaten it or cooked it, but this recipe is making me see the error of my ways. It is lighter than what I thought a chowder would be, but I do like it for that. Leeks are the star of the show and celery, potatoes and corn are his backing singers. Flavoured with thyme, sage, mustard, parsley and a bay leaf and made creamy with rice milk. Last, but certainly not least!

Chicago, USA

Another successful round-up and a plethora of delectable recipes for you to try. Do take the time to vote for your favourite, using the poll on the right or by emailing me at tinnedtomatoes@googlemail.com. The winner will be announced on Friday 30th April 2010.