Side for soup

I've done quite a number of the recipes in the soup chapter, but so far, I've overlooked the various croutons and things that are included alongside these recipes. I was making some tomato soup last night, which seemed like a good opportunity for making tasty croûtes (p93) as an accompaniment.


Tasty croûtes are simply thick slices of french stick, spread with mayonnaise, sprinkled with onion stock powder, and grilled - easy.


I'd run out of mayonnaise, so I turned to the salads and dressings and made some quick blender mayonnaise (p184). All you do is put eggs, vinegar, mustard powder, salt and cayenne pepper into a blender or food processor, then add oil in a steady stream while the processor is blending the mixture.


I have to say I prefer the plain mayonnaise recipe to this blender version - this one wasn't as thick, and had a slight aftertaste. It's still a perfectly good mayo though, and it makes heaps! I spread my chunky slices of french stick liberally with the freshly-made mayonnaise, but there was still a lot left over.


The mayo-topped pieces of bread should at this point be sprinkled with onion stock powder, apparently. I don't think I've ever seen onion flavour among the stock powders, so I had to decide what to use as a substitute. I considered onion soup mix, but in the end I went with vege stock powder. I was in a bit of a hurry at this point (the soup was already cooked) and some of the pieces got a more liberal sprinkling than I intended. 


After a few short minutes under the grill, my tasty croûtes were golden and crunchy-looking. They were quite yummy dipped in my hot soup, but the same could be said about plain pieces of french stick. I don't think the mayo and stock powder topping added much flavour at all.


It's a good idea to have some sort of bready side when you're eating soup. It's lovely for soaking up the last bits in the bowl, or just for dipping straight in. It's tasty, and adds a more filling element to a light soup. That said, do you really need to be spreading and sprinkling stuff on the bread first?