White Onion and Thyme Veloute

We really enjoyed this. Again, it comes from Marcus Wareing's "One Perfect Ingredient". We had a bunch of onions and put them all into this one. We added a touch of cream at the end, toasted some bread (and put a big slice on top) and topped with thyme. I forgot the olive oil to drizzle over the top but will do that when we have the leftovers. The onions end up extremely sweet when you sweat them down slowly in the butter. Really lovely.

150 g unsalted butter, diced
6 large white onions, finely sliced
1 bunch fresh thyme, tied with string
1 head garlic, cloves separated and peeled
600 milliliters skim milk
600 milliliters chicken stock
sea salt
olive oil, to drizzle

Melt the butter in a large pan and ad the onions and thyme. Sweat over a low to medium heat, stirring occasionally for 15-20 minutes until all the liquid has gone. Take care not to let the onions color.

Meanwhile put the garlic cloves in another pan, cover with water, and add a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil, then drain and rinse under a cold tap. Repeat this blanching process one more time using some milk (not the 600ml of milk) rather than water. Drain the garlic again and refresh with cold water.

When the onions are done, add the blanched garlic cloves to the pan. Stir in the 600ml of milk and the stock, and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and discard the thyme. Blitz the soup up in a blender until smooth, then pass through a fine sieve into a clean pan.

To serve, reheat and add salt, if necessary. Finish by stirring in a little double or whipping cream (optional) and drizzle with some good-quality olive oil.