CREAM OF ONION SOUP

This simple soup has lots of flavour, with sweet onions and sherry. It’s worth trying to find French Roscoff onions, which are much sweeter and add great depth of flavour, otherwise you can use Spanish onions. You can make this soup a day ahead to save time and serve as a fabulous starter.

Serves 4 l 4 Roscoff or Spanish onions (from larger

supermarkets or online) l 500ml (18fl oz) chicken stock l 25g (1oz) butter l 1tbsp plain flour l 50ml (2fl oz) sherry l 100ml (3½fl oz) double cream, plus extra to

garnish l Salt and freshly ground black pepper l 15ml (½fl oz) olive oil

Place the Roscoff onions in a large pan. Pour the chicken stock in. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 30 minutes. Cool slightly, then remove the onions and cut them in half. Pull the skins off. Remove the central layers and set aside for later — these will be the garnish. Leave the stock in the pan.

Place the remaining onions in a hot saucepan, along with the butter and flour. Stir well and cook until the mixture colours then add the sherry and the reserved stock. Cook for 5 minutes, until the onions are soft.

Add the double cream to the soup and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Transfer the soup to a food processor and blitz until smooth. Put the mixture back in the pan to warm through.

Meanwhile, dry fry the reserved central parts of the onions until charred, then pull them apart to make petals. Spoon the soup into bowls. Top with some onion ‘petals’, drizzle a little oil and cream over, then serve.