Recipe: Sweet onion Soup

Serves four
One tablespoon olive oil
50g butter
Six large red onions – peeled and sliced
One clove of garlic – peeled and crushed
Two sprigs of thyme – leaves picked off and chopped
Two sprigs of rosemary – leaves picked off and chopped
30g plain flour
One litre of beef stock
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper
Four slices of white bread – torn into lumps
100g smoked cheese – grated

Method

In a large pan, melt the butter in the olive oil, add the onions and gently fry until they’re soft and tender – probably about 15 minutes – but be careful they don’t burn. Add the garlic and chopped herbs and gently cook for another couple of minutes before sprinkling in the flour and stirring to combine with the onions. Pour in the stock, a little at a time at first whilst stirring until all the flour is combined and the rest can be poured in without making lumps. Bring to a gentle boil and simmer for around 20 minutes before adjusting the seasoning to taste.
To serve, first, pre-heat the grill. While it’s heating, pour the soup into warmed bowls (or, for a difference, large coffee cups as we have here) making sure you get lots of the onion in each. Top each one with the lumps of bread, sprinkle on some cheese and place the bowls or cups under the grill until the cheese is melted.

Recipe: Lillies Pumpkin soup

On the last night of my holiday myself and my daughter Lillie decided we had to have a night in the garden.

By 4pm the log burner was up to temperature and we were ready to go.

Lillie and i spent the evening carving Pumpkins and catching up about what she had been upto over the week she has been off school, She does make me Smile as her stories and opinions are great.

Once Lillie had finished she decided that Pumpkin soup was going to be made from the trimmings for her Mam, this recipe was what she came up with and the results turned out well.

Ingredients

1 small pumpkin

550ml Chicken or vegetable stock

1 large onion

4 cloves garlic

Sea Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Peel the pumpkin and dice

Peal the onions and roughly chop

Peal the garlic and leave whole

In a bowl coat the pumpkin, onion and garlic in enough olive oil to glaze and season

Place the mix onto a baking tray and put it in the oven, bake it until the pumpkin becomes soft

Once soft add the mix to the stock and boil for 5 minutes

Blend the mix, if it’s too thick add more stock until you achieve the consistency you require

Check for seasoning and serve