I had a delicious Vidalia onion soup from Murphy’s. It was listed as Shuman Farms Vidalia onion soup with chives and crispy cheddar and was like summer in a bowl! I want to recreate it at home. Do you think we could get the recipe?
— Katie Scally, Smyrna
Matt McCarthy, Murphy’s executive chef, was happy to share the recipe the restaurant prepares every year when Shuman Farms Vidalia onions are in season. “We bring it around every year because we and our guests love it. This soup is special to us because it highlights a product exclusive to Georgia at the peak of its season and will be available through the end of September.
“The beauty in this soup is that it’s simple. You really don’t need to do much to make this soup great when the bulk of it is the best onions you can find. We use a bit of garlic, thyme and white pepper to enhance the flavors of the onions and we use cream, butter, and potatoes to keep the soup velvety and rich. The soup is garnished with chives and crispy cheddar.”
The soup is prepared with green garlic when green garlic is in season in early spring, coinciding with the start of Vidalia onion season. After green garlic season is over, they prepare the soup with garlic cloves. And they use vegetable stock in which they steep a strip of kombu, a type of dried, aged seaweed used in Japanese cooking as a stock seasoning. If you want to reproduce that flavor, warm your vegetable stock and add a 2-inch piece of kombu. Remove from the heat, cover the stock and let it steep for 20 minutes, then remove the kombu before adding the stock to the soup.
The restaurant prepares the crispy cheddar by baking small mounds of shredded cheddar on a silicone-lined baking sheet at 350 degrees until the cheese crisps, roughly 10 minutes.
“This soup could be garnished with so many different things,” McCarthy noted. “Croutons, crispy onions or potatoes or a simple mix of chopped vegetables dressed with some vinegar or lemon juice would all be great.”
Murphy’s Vidalia Onion and Potato Soup
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 3/4 pounds Vidalia onion, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick (about 5 medium onions)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 4 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- 3/4 pound peeled Yukon Gold potatoes, thinly sliced (about 2 large potatoes)
- 2 1/2 cups vegetable stock
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- Melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat.
- Add onion, garlic, salt, thyme and pepper. Cook until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add potatoes and cook 2 minutes.
- Stir in vegetable stock and cream and cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
- Remove Dutch oven from heat and, using an immersion blender, puree soup. Taste for seasoning, adding salt and pepper if needed.
- Serve immediately or bring to room temperature and chill in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Warm again before serving.
Makes 6 cups.
Per cup: 355 calories (percent of calories from fat, 71), 3 grams protein, 23 grams carbohydrates, 9 grams total sugars, 3 grams fiber, 28 grams total fat (19 grams saturated), 99 milligrams cholesterol, 983 milligrams sodium.
From the menu of ... Murphy’s, 997 Virginia Ave. NE, Atlanta; 404-872-0904, murphysvh.com.
Is there a recipe from a metro Atlanta restaurant you’d like to make at home? Tell us and we’ll try to get it. We’ll also test it and adapt it for the home kitchen. Because of volume, we can’t answer all inquiries. Send your request, your address and phone number to fromthemenu@gmail.com and put “From the menu of” and the name of the restaurant in the subject line.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
