Onion Soup & Barbie Bread

Soup has to be one of my all time favourite comfort foods, what better to feed the troubled soul with than smooth, silky butternut squash soup laced with cumin or steaming chunky vegetable soup or indulgent creamy mushroom soup, mmmmm.  I always have home made soups in the freezer and I love making them.  Yesterday, looking for something to use up some onions, I decided to make some cream of onion soup in the slow cooker.  The recipe is from a book I picked up recently in a charity shop, Slow Cooking Properly Explained by Dianne Page, after a friend recommended the recipes in it.  I love using my slow cooker, there's nothing better than driving home smug in the knowledge that dinner is all ready and waiting!  So, onion soup....here's the recipe:

1 1/2oz butter
1lb onions, finely chopped
2oz plain flour
1 3/4 pts chicken stock
salt and pepper
1/4 pt double cream
chopped chives, to serve

Heat the butter in a large saucepan, add the onions and cook gently, stirring occasionally, until softened but not browned.  Stir in the flour.  Remove from heat and gradually stir in stock.  Season lightly with salt and pepper and then bring to boil.  Transfer to slow cooker.  Put the lid on and cook for 6 to 10 hours on low, stirring in the cream for the last 30 minutes.  Adjust seasoning to taste and serve sprinkled with chopped chives.

Now to illustrate just how religiously I follow a recipe!  ;oD  To start off with I used oil instead of butter to cook the onions.  It doesn't mention a type of onions but I used red onions as I had some that required urgent attention!  I didn't use pepper and I added some nutmeg.  And I didn't use double cream.  I do actually have some double cream in the fridge but chose instead to use evaporated milk.  And lastly I whizzed the soup to sexy smoothiness and couldn't be arsed to go into the garden for chives to sprinkle about!  So, my soup probably wasn't anything like what the industrious slow cooking author intended but it was lovely and here it is served with wholemeal toast and Jarlsberg cheese sprinkled with my current fave spice, smoked paprika.

I was also on a mission yesterday to use up some rapidly squishying beetroot from last week's organic veg box and decided to plump for using them to make what is affectionately known as Barbie bread chez Savill!  ;oD  Barbie bread is otherwise known as beetroot bread which I make in the breadmaker and it makes for a pink culinary experience as you can see!  It doesn't taste overtly beetrooty but it is yummeeeee!