Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

2 medium yellow onions, peeled, quartered and sliced

2 red onions, peeled, quartered and sliced

1 leek, washed and sliced

6 cups of chicken or vegetable broth or a combination of both.

4 slices of toast

Grated Gruyere or cheddar cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Put the olive oil in a large thick bottomed pan and put over medium heat. Add the garlic and stir gently for about 30 seconds.

Then add the onions and the leeks and stir around for about a minute. Add salt and pepper to taste. Then reduce the heat to low. Put the lid on the pan allowing a small gap. Let the onions and the leeks fry very very gently for about 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Remove the lid and continue the gentle cooking for a further 20 minutes. Do not allow anything to stick to the bottom of the pan.

By now the onions and leeks should be soft and slightly yellow in color.

Add the stock, bring to the boil and simmer gently for about 15 minutes.

Now is the time to make the toast.

Taste the soup for flavor and add salt and pepper if necessary.

Turn on the broiler in the oven.

Put 4 soup dishes on a flat pan e.g. a jelly roll pan and ladle the soup into each soup dish. Add the toast to the top of the soup and put the grated cheese on the toast.

Put all this under the broiler and broil until the cheese just starts to melt. Serve

Makes 4 servings.

Notes

Use onions of your choice.

For added flavor add herbs to the garlic and oil. Thyme or sage are good options.

If you like just sliced onions the slice them whole – do not quarter them.

Cook the onions slowly, this brings out the best flavor.

Choose whatever stock you prefer. You can even use beef stock.

Choose cheese to your liking. Gruyere is the French way, however it does tend to be stringy and therefore very messy to eat. Jamie Oliver prefers Cheddar which is actually a little bit sharp and easier to eat. You can leave the cheese off altogether if you prefer.

If you have any left over then put it into a bowl and just keep it in the fridge. When you reheat it however it might need a little more stock.

There you go – Enjoy!