French onion soup

I know that this blog is supposed to do with Scottish food but Scottish people don't only eat Scottish food.  Today we are going to learn how to make French onion soup, a favourite of mine on cold winter days.  It's easy and cheap to make.  I have lifted the recipe from my Marks and Spencer's cook book from when I was a student at the uni - many, many years ago.

Ingredients
Butter for frying
1/2 kilo Spanish onions, peeled and sliced into rings
2 15ml spoons flour
1 1/4 litres of homemade beef stock (or add some stock cubes)
salt and freshly ground black pepper

To finish
4 slices of French bread, buttered
4 large slices of Gruyére or Cheddar cheese


Method
Melt a knob of butter in a saucepan.  Add the onions and fry gently until soft and golden.  Stir in the flour and cook gradually for a further 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Gradually stir in the stock and bring to the boil.  Season with salt and plenty of black pepper, then lower the heat and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes or until the onions are soft.  Adjust the seasoning.
Pour the soup into individually warmed soup bowls.  Float a slice of bread on each and top with a slice of cheese.  Sprinkle with black pepper and put under a pre-heated hot grill for 5 minutes or until the cheese melts and is bubbling.  Serve immediately.

And this is what it looks like...

Instead of floating slices of bread and cheese on top of your soup bowls, you can also add croutons which are bite sized bits of bread fried gently in butter, like below...

You can also spice your soup up a bit more by adding some herbs, perhaps some oregano...