French Onion Soup seems to have been popping up all over the place for me this winter. I’ve been seeing it in magazines, on blogs, on menus… must be the soup du jour this year. We had it for Sunday lunch this weekend – it’s now on my favourite food list for winter.

French Onion soup recipes don’t seem to have a lot of variation – basically heat olive oil, add thinly sliced onions and cook them gently until they soften and brown, add beef or vege stock and a bit of white wine, and simmer for 30-40 minutes. Quantities are pretty much all to taste! I followed an Alison Holst recipe which also had a splash of balsamic vinegar and fresh thyme over the onions as they started to brown. Cooking the onions nicely is the important bit – it’s where all the yummy flavour comes from.

As for the croutons, I sprayed one side of slices of french stick with cooking spray and grilled for a few minutes. Then took them out, turned them over, and sprinkled liberally with cheese (I only had parmesan but gruyere is the holy grail). Grill them on that side and plonk them in the soup. Voila!

We had a beautiful day in Wellington today – not just sunny, but also mild! This was the view from near our house.