This is an old standby, always popular and can be used either as a filling, main-course soup or as a lighter starter, depending on how thick you make it. I give the main course version as standard.
Use 1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the salt.
Serves 2 as a main course
Ingredients
3
large onions
salt
2
tbsp olive oil OR butter
2 tbsp flour
1
litre water
1
tsp Marmite
pepper
Method:
- Slice the onions and heat the oil. Add about 1/4 tsp salt, which speeds up the browning. Cook the onions until they’re just on the edge of burning. The richness and flavour of this soup comes from this stage, so don’t be impatient. If you cover the pan, it speeds things up, but stir them frequently so that they don’t actually burn.
- Pour in the water and then add the Marmite, if you’re using it. This adds extra colour and flavour to the soup, but isn’t necessary. (Use Bovril instead – as Conor O’Brien recommends, in Across Three Oceans, but ensure it’s the vegetarian one; or any other yeast extract paste which doesn’t contain sugar.)
- Bring to the boil and then simmer for at least 20 minutes or pressure cook for 5 minutes.
- When
the soup is about cooked, taste and season with more salt if it needs
it, and generous amounts of black pepper. It can take a lot.
- Serve with plenty of bread.
Note:
- If you want to make this soup less substantial, use 1 less onion and leave out the flour.
- To make the soup gluten free, use 2 tbsp gram flour
Variations:
- Add a generous measure of brandy or sherry to the bowl when serving.
- Serve with grated (vegan) cheese.
- In France and Italy, the soup often has a slice of bread put on top and cheese grated over this.
- Add 1 cup grated (vegan) cheese and 1/4 cup (vegan) Parmesan cheese to the soup, just before serving. In this case, don’t add salt until the last minute, because the cheese will make it saltier; and don’t reboil – this could make the cheese go stringy.
- Substitute Dijon mustard for the Marmite.