Onion Soup

A good knob of butter
Olive oil
A good handful of fresh sage leaves, 8 leaves reserved for serving
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
5 red onions peeled and sliced
3 large white onions, peeled and sliced
3 banana shallots, peeled and sliced
300g leeks, trimmed washed and sliced
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 liters good quality stock
8 slices of good quality stale bread
200g freshly grated Cheddar Cheese
Worcestershire Sauce

Put the butter, 2 glugs of olive oil, the sage and garlic into a thick bottomed, non-stick pan. Stir everything around and add the onions, shallots and leeks. Season with salt and pepper. Place a lid on the pan, leaving it slightly ajar, and cook slowly for 50 min, without coloring the vegetables too much. Remove the lid for the last 20 min. Stir occasionally so that nothing catches on the bottom.
When your onions are lovely and silky, add the stock. Bring to a boil, turn the heat down and simmer for 10-15 min. You can skim the fat off the surface, or leave it there to add flavor.
Preheat the oven or grill to maximum. Toast your bread on both sides. Correct the seasoning of the soup, then ladle it into heatproof bowls and place them onto a baking tray. Tear toasted bread over each bowl to fit it like a lid. Feel free to push or dunk the bread into the soup a bit. Sprinkle with some grated cheddar and drizzle over a little Worcestershire sauce.
Dress your reserved sage leaves with some olive oil and place one on top of each slice of bread. Put the baking tray into the preheated oven or under the grill to melt the cheese till bubbling and golden.

This was from Jamie at Home. It was fun to make because of the cheese under the grill part, the slicing a million or so onions was not quite as much fun, but you could use a food processor to do that part.

This came out really wonderfully, both the soup it’s self, and the fabulous grilled bread and cheese top (which is why I always loved this soup so much when I was younger). Apparently the key is using as many different types of onions as you can get your hands on, for the variety of flavor.

One quick warning though, the leftovers, if you have any, turn a really strange and unappetizing color. I think it’s the red onions that do that. I’d recommend making a half a batch, unless there are a lot of you eating it.