Fast French Onion Soup for Cheats!

Firstly - this is not the way to make french onion soup.  Seriously, it takes ages to make french onion soup properly to get that amazing onion flavour - some people say it takes 2-3 days to do right! But this cheat version can be ready in about 40 minutes, and for me it gives me enough of the essence of the real thing to satisfy.  Turn your nose up at my cheats if you like, but I love it!

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil (I use sunflower oil)
50g butter
1kg sliced onions (I use a big bag of frozen onions)
1 tbsp sugar
2-3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced (or use 3-4 tsp of powdered garlic)
1 tbsp plain flour
8-12 beef stock cubes (depends on how beefy you like it)

Method

1. Melt the butter in the saucepan and add the oil.

2. Add the onions and fry them until they go soft (about 10 minutes on a medium high heat).

3.  Add in 1 tbsp of sugar and continue to fry with the lid on until the onions start to go brown - but don't let them burn.  (If you started with frozen onions, you may want to keep the lid off as a lot more water needs to come out.) . It takes around 20-30 minutes for this, be patient.

4.  Add the garlic and flour and cook for 5 minutes more.  The flour sometimes makes the onions go a bit gloopy, if that happens add a little water to loosen them up.

5. Add 1.5 litres of boiling water from the kettle, and 8 stock cubes to the pan.  I hate crumbling oxo cubes and the way it makes my fingers feel gritty, so I have a technique... If you fold back the foil flaps carefully, and gently squeeze the cubes, you can crush them still in the packaging, so you don't have to get them all over your hands.

If you like it beefier, add some more stock cubes to taste.

6. Simmer for a few more minutes, then serve.  The classic way is to serve in a bowl and add a slice of toasted baguette with some melted cheese on top.  I sometimes just crumble a bit of cheese straight in and have some chunky bread for dipping.