English onion soup

Jamie Oliver English onion soup with sage and cheddar recipe

Email this page
Jamie Oliver

Jamie Oliver

Date Published:
22/10/2007

Jamie:

"There's something so incredibly humble about onion soup. It's absolutely one of my favourites but unfortunately I only ever get to make it in the restaurant or for myself as the missus thinks she's allergic to onions. (She's not, because I whiz them up into loads of dishes without her knowing!)

"If you have the opportunity, get hold of as many different types of onion for this soup as you can - you need about 1kg in total. Sweat them gently and you'll be amazed at all the flavours going on"

Serves 8

Ingredients

  • A good knob of butter
  • Olive oil
  • A good handful of fresh sage leaves, 8 leaves reserved for serving
  • 6 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
  • 5 red onions, peeled and sliced
  • 3 large white onions, peeled and sliced
  • 3 banana shallots, peeled and sliced
  • 300g of leeks, trimmed, washed and sliced
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 litres of good-quality hot beef, chicken or vegetable stock
  • 8 slices of good-quality stale bread, 2cm thick
  • 200g freshly grated cheddar cheese
  • Worcestershire sauce

Method: How to make English onion soup with sage and cheddar

1. Put the butter, 2 glugs of olive oil, the sage and garlic into a thick-bottomed, non-stick pan. Stir everything round and add the onions, shallots and leeks. Season with salt and pepper. Place a lid on the pan, leaving it slightly ajar, and cook slowly for 50 minutes, without colouring the vegetables too much. Remove the lid for the last 20 minutes - your onions will become soft and golden. Stir occasionally so that nothing catches on the bottom. Having the patience to cook the onions slowly, slowly, gives you an incredible sweetness and an awesome flavour, so don't be tempted to speed this bit up.

2. When your onions and leeks are lovely and silky, add the stock. Bring to the boil, turn the heat down and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. You can skim any fat off the surface if you like, but I prefer to leave it because it adds good flavour.

3. Preheat the oven or grill to maximum. Toast your bread on both sides. Correct the seasoning of the soup. When it's perfect, ladle it into individual heatproof serving bowls and place them on a baking tray. Tear toasted bread over each bowl to fit it like a lid. Feel free to push and dunk the bread into the soup a bit. Sprinkle with some grated Cheddar and drizzle over a little Worcestershire sauce. Dress your reserved sage leaves with some olive oil and place one on top of each slice of bread. Put the baking tray into the preheated oven or under the grill to melt the cheese until bubbling and golden. Keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't burn! When the cheese is bubbling, very carefully lift out the tray and carry it to the table. Enjoy.

4. Dress your reserved sage leaves with some olive oil and place one on top of each slice of bread. Put the baking tray into the preheated oven or under the grill to melt the cheese until bubbling and golden. Keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't burn! When the cheese is bubbling, very carefully lift out the tray and carry it to the table. Enjoy.

Jamie At Home book cover

Recipe taken from Jamie At Home by Jamie Oliver
©Jamie Oliver 200[8]. All rights reserved
Photography © David Loftus. All rights reserved

Buy the book from Amazon



What are your hot tips for cooking onion? share them in Taste My Tips.

Back to top

Your Comments

Post your comment

Please note: In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in to Channel 4:

Sign In Here or Register Here

Comments closed

Comments are closed at the present time

Your comments

Post your comment
By posting on this website you are agreeing to abide by our Comments Policy.
Mandatory Fields are marked with *
Your Comment (Maximum characters: 4000) *
You have

Comments

Thank you for your comment!

Your message will be reviewed and the best ones will be published below.

If you intended to make an official comment to Channel 4 please contact us.

Comments

  1. The symptoms when most people think they are allergic to onions are just the natural healing properties of the onions taking effect. E.g. Antifungal, Antibiotic, Anticatahral...hence good for yeast infections, intestine dysbosis and they don't half make your nose run!
    Posted by Sb on 01/02/2009 19:20:57
    Offensive? Unsuitable? Report this comment
  2. this receipe is just fantastic and easy to follow dont know why i did not does this before nowits a life saver
    Posted by pete hitchin on 01/01/2009 20:28:55
    Offensive? Unsuitable? Report this comment

Recipe Finder

Show only:

Advertisement

More Cheddar Recipes

More Onion Recipes

More Soup Recipes

Missed a show? Get onto Catch-up

Jamie at Home

Growing Guides

Food for thought

Jamie Oliver

Advertisement


Food

Skip Channel4 main Navigation
Explore Channel4
Food
4Homes
4Car
News
Sport
See All

Channel 4 © 2009. Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of external websites.