Quick French Onion Soup and the art of Disco Souping!

This comforting broth is easy to make and packed with flavour – Quick French Onion Soup is the ultimate classic lunch recipe to have up your sleeve when you’ve got to feed a crowd at the weekend. Serve it up with those delicious cheesy croutons bubbling on top and I suspect you’ll be very popular. All you need to get started are a load of unloved onions that you’ve probably got knocking around in the bottom of your fridge drawer…

I’m sharing this recipe from The OXO Cookbook to raise awareness of how much food waste we’re responsible for in the UK. We chuck away enough leftovers to fill Wembley Stadium a staggering four times! So OXO are encouraging us to start “souping up” our unwanted veggies with its new stock pots.

I use gel stock pots a lot in my cooking, so I was eager to try OXO’s vegetarian friendly Garden Vegetable pot that’s flavoured with parsley and bay. It adds a lovely layer of flavour to anything you’re making – I tend to use them not only for soups, but also risottos and my vegetarian onion gravy.

To promote their new stock pots, OXO invited a group of food bloggers along to the swanky Cactus Kitchen in South London for an evening of ‘Disco Souping’ with TV Chef Dean Edwards. It’s where they film Saturday Kitchen, so naturally we all got our picture taken standing on the iconic set. We then ventured upstairs for prosecco and nibbles before embarking on an evening of chopping to the beat making three delicious soups.

Disco Souping is actually a thing. It’s an international grassroots movement that hit our shores about three years ago from the states and raises awareness of food waste. Volunteers have a social evening of peeling, cutting and preparing wasted vegetables for soup while the disco tunes are pumped out. The resulting soup is then distributed for free to members of the public – normally to those who are more disadvantaged. So everyone gets to feel good.

I had a great time, met some really lovely people and came away inspired to broaden my soup repertoire, including the very delicious Quick French Onion Soup. As for cooking along to funky music with a glass of fizz, that’s definitely how I like to run things in the Feeding Boys kitchen!

Quick French Onion Soup

From The OXO Cookbook

Serves: 4
Prep time: 5-10 mins
Cooking time: 40 mins

Ingredients
30g butter
a glug of olive oil
800g onions, thinly sliced
1 tsp caster sugar
150ml white wine
2 x OXO Garden Vegetable with Parsley and Bay Stock Pots, made up with 1 litre boiling water
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the croutons
4 slices baguette
35g Cheddar cheese, grated

Method

1. Heat the butter and oil together in a large saucepan until the butter stops foaming. Add the onions and cook over a medium to high heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Add the sugar, stir well and bubble it down for 3-4 minutes, scraping the base of the pan well with a wooden spoon to release any sediment. Add the OXO stock, stir well, bring to the boil and simmer over a high heat for 15 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, for the croutons, lightly toast the baguette slices on both sides under a medium grill. Just before the soup is ready, sprinkle grated cheese over each slice and place under the grill until the cheese is bubbling and evenly browned.

4. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste and serve in warmed bowls, with a cheese-topped crouton floating in each.

OXO Stock Pots are available from all major supermarkets in Rich Beef with Onion and Rosemary, Succulent Chicken with Garlic and Thyme and Garden Vegetables with Parsley and Bay. Prices start at £1.45

Disclosure: With thanks to OXO for inviting me to the Disco Soup event and generously covering the cost of my travel. All views are my own.