Caramelised White Onion Soup
with Goats Straws and an Onion Marmite Dressing
 
Ingredients
Serves 4
 
1kg of Onions
2 tbsp Olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 pint of vegetable stock 80ml Double cream
2 tbsp Onion seeds or Nigella seeds 2 tbsp Olive oil
300g Ready roll puff pastry
150g Soft Goats cheese
2 tbsp Onion seeds or nigella seeds 2 Eggs for glazing
 
Here’s how
 
Place the onions in the skins onto a large roasting tray.
Drizzle with a little olive oil and season with plenty of salt and pepper ass you need the salt to draw out the moisture of the onions.
Cook in a pre heated oven for 1 hour at 160c or until soft and squidgy.
Remove the onions from the oven and leave to cool for 30 minutes, then using a pair of sharp scissors cut the root off and squeeze the insides into a blender.
Pour in the hot vegetable stock.
Blend until smooth, then add the cream and season with salt and pepper to your taste.
Place the squeezed out onion skins into the bin but keep all the roasting juices from the tray for garnish, I call it the marmite this is where the big flavour is.
Roll out the puff pastry and spread the goats cheese over the top evenly on one half only.(I find it much easier if the goats cheese is at room temperature)
Scatter with the seeds and fold over.
Use a rolling pin to gently roll out to compress together, not to roll out any bigger. Brush the pastry with the beaten egg, then cut into 1cm wide strips.
Roll and twist the pastry before placing on a lined baking tray.
Chill the straws in the freezer for 20 minutes before baking, this will help them set their shape.
Bake in a pre heated oven 170c for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden and crisp. Serve the cheese straws with the soup and finish with the nigella seeds, olive oil and marmite juices.
Try serving this dish with a nice crisp sauvignon blanc
 
Recipe by peter Sidwell