French Onion Soup

You like soup but want to do something “special”.

I purchased six very large onions, and brought them home.

I weighed the largest at 450 grams.

I weighed the smallest at 220 grams.

Together the largest and smallest make 670 grams. Multiplying by three (to arrive at six onions) tells me I have about 2.010 kilograms of peeled raw onion.

In my big boiler pan I tipped four soupspoons of olive oil.

I diced the six onions, cutting each half into three or four segments lengthwise, then dicing the segments into strips.

That made two mixing bowls of diced onions.

Into the boiler. I stirred them well to coat the slices with oil, then set on a low heat to soften and reduce the onions.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch - I’d brought home too a bunch of parsley, about 130 grams, it seems.

I diced this bunch into one-inch chunks.

After about an hour of gentle simmering I added a jar of home-made chicken stock - about two cups - and enough water to cover the soft onions.

I added the parsley to the pot, together with a soupspoon of basil, stirred it in, and let it simmer for another hour.

That made me a two-liter tub of soup and a half of another tub - say three liters in all.

Of course, to serve it you need good-looking ramekins. The soup is brought to near-boiling in the ramekins, a slice of bread is placed on top, and some strips of cheese. The bowls are then grilled to soften the cheese.

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