Onion Soup

I am amazed at what good soup one can make with nothing but onions (well, and a small amount of other seasonings.) Who appreciates onions? They're boring, right, except when they're bringing tears to your eyes? This is not so.

The technique for making onion soup is to chop a number of onions (about three large ones or six small ones) and sauté them for half an hour or so. I don't have much success at caramelizing the onions - they stay fairly pale in color. But they do cook down into a sort of sludge, which is the magic ingredient.

Other ingredients? Salt, plus small amounts of garlic, black pepper, mustard, thyme, bay leaf, soy sauce (for color). Some people like to add a bit of sugar. And white wine if you have it.

Yesterday I went nuts and added a couple carrots and celery stalks. It doesn't hurt anything. But the true quintessence of onion is what it's all about.