Recently, the now-turned vegan teen had a hankering for French Onion Soup. A challenge is a challenge so I set out to make it. Without a hearty beef stock and cheesy bread floating on top, this could never be an authentic alternative to French Onion Soup but it was still worth a try. It turned out, however, to be a very tasty vegan version which I served with the Hairy Bikers’ recipe for Kartoffelbrot.

As with its’ French cousin, the taste and depth comes from slow-cooking the onions until they are caramelised. It takes a while but is so worth it (or so the Teen says!).

Due to its rather pale complexion, we decided to name it ‘Celtic Onion Soup!’

Serves 4

Ingredients
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1½ lb white onions, sliced thinly in rounds
4 fluid ounces, white wine
2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
½ tsp, dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 ½ -2 pints, good quality vegetable stock*

Method
1. Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan
2. Add the onions and cook over a gentle heat for about 10 minutes or until soft
3. Add the sugar, salt and pepper and continue cooking until the onions turn a caramel colour
4. Scoop the onions to the sides of the pan and deglaze with white wine, stirring back in the onions and adding the garlic
5. Cook for a further few minutes until the garlic is the same colour as the onions
6. Add the thyme and bay leaf
7. Add the stock and simmer for a further 30-40 minutes

* I used a mix of homemade vegetable stock and commercial. I made the stock using some carrots, cabbage and a stalk of broccoli and covered this with about 1 pint of water. I added a tablespoon of dried parsley, a teaspoon of dried mixed herbs and a small bay leaf and left this to simmer while cooking the onions. I strained the vegetables and added a commercial stock cube to give the stock the depth it requires for this recipe. I added ½ pint of water also to this mix.