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.

Split Pea and Lentil Soup

Soups are usually really easy to make, but this one is super simple, and only has a few ingredients.  As with most soups and stews, it tastes better the day after making it too.  My version uses gammon, but if you want to make this vegetarian, you can just use vegetable stock as the base instead.

Ingredients

1 gammon joint (or use Ham or Vegetable stock cubes instead to make up a stock)
150g Yellow Split Peas
150g Red Lentils
250g Chopped Onions (frozen chopped onions are brilliant!)
3-4 large carrots (or if you're lazy - which I often am - 2 small tins of carrots)
2 tsp Garlic powder, or 2 cloves of crushed garlic (optional)

Method

1. Place the gammon joint in a saucepan and cover with boiling water.  Simmer this for 1-1.5 hours until the meat is cooked through.  You need to check this every 15-20 minutes or so, and top up the water if required.

2. Remove the meat from the saucepan (leaving the stock in the pan) and leave it to cool.  Peel and slice the carrots.  Add these to the saucepan along with the split peas and lentils.  (If you're using tinned carrots, don't add these until a few minutes before serving.)

3. Return the pan to the boil for around 30 minutes, until the all the vegetables are soft.  Add the chopped onions and garlic and simmer the soup until it thickens (keep checking this every 10-15 minutes - you don't want your peas sticking and burning on the bottom of the pan - it takes 30-60 minutes to turn into a lovely thick soup).

4. To serve, chop up or shred some of the meat and place in the soup bowl (if you're a meat eater).  Spoon out the soup on top, and serve with a chunk of your favourite bread (perhaps Soda Bread?) for dipping - easy peasy!

Tip
Split peas and red lentils are usually cheaper in the 'World Foods' aisle in the supermarket.