French Onion Soup

Another busy week, so squeezing in a blog post before I head off to work (yes I'm working on a Saturday, not for the first time this month, nor, sadly, the last). It's getting colder now and as autumn/winter rolls around  I find myself gravitating towards soup more and more, so expect to see plenty of soup recipes in the coming months. This is a  very straightforward and cheap soup that tastes delicious. It takes a bit of time because the onions are best cooked slowly on a low heat. I had some shallots lurking in the garden I used for this, which gave it an extra special tastyness.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp wine or brandy
1 tbsp brown sugar/1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
500g onions, chopped
1 litre vegetable stock
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp soy sauce
3 garlic cloves
2 tsp mustard (any type though wholegrain works well if you have it; I used English mustard in this for a bit of punch)
salt and pepper
cornflour (optional)

As ever if you want to print the recipe, click on 'print-friendly' at the end of this post, and you can click 'remove images'.

Instructions:


1. Chop onions and garlic, fry in oil/butter with sugar/balsamic vinegar and the wine until the onions begin to soften. Then place a lid on top of the pan, turn down the heat, and soften the onions further (about 20 minutes). Check onions regularly to ensure they don't burn, and stir.

2. Add stock, mustard, thyme, stir.

3. Cook for another 20 minutes or so on a low heat. Towards the end, stir in the soy sauce, and cook for another five minutes, before seasoning with salt and pepper. Thicken with cornflour if desired.