Served with Focaccia croutons or toasted sourdough
Sometimes, you come across a recipe that you know you simply must try. That was the case when I first saw ‘Mary’s Onion Soup.’ This delightful recipe arrived on my doorstep in the bi-monthly newspaper from Wylde Market—a refreshing change in our digitally dominated world.
Wylde Market is an online platform that connects consumers directly with small producers, farmers, and fishermen, offering fresh, local produce. It’s a fantastic initiative that we should all support, as it allows us to enjoy the freshest ingredients delivered right to our door. I’ve personally purchased beautiful skate wings from Marc and Jim, who fish sustainably in Lyme Bay, as well as fresh vegetables from local farms.
Now, back to the recipe! I felt compelled to share it with you, so I reached out to Nick, the founder of Wylde Market. He kindly agreed to let us share this special recipe, which holds personal significance for him—Mary was his late mother-in-law. Nick mentioned that Mary would have been delighted and amused to see her recipe published, in print and now online. Thank you Mary.
Its so nice to see great recipes based on to a new generation, now we can all enjoy making Mary’s Onion Soup and sharing this lovely soup to a new audience.
If you’re interested in exploring Wylde Market, and I strongly recommend you do, we have a special discount code for you that offers £20 off your first order. Do you need any further incentive to add some biodynamic organic onions from Wylde to your basket?
www.wylde.market Discount code MAYFAIR20
See all the Mayfair Foodie recipes here, including Madeiran Tomato soup.
Mary's onion soup
Print RecipeIngredients
- 1k Onions, thinly sliced
- 2 tbsps of olive oil
- 200g butter
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1.5l beef or venison stock
- 300ml dry white wine
- Salt & pepper
- Focaccia cut horizontally into sliced.
- 500g Hard cheese grated
Instructions
Put a large saucepan or casserole dish on a high heat and melt your oil and butter together.
When this is very hot, add the sliced onions.
Keep turning the onions from time to time until their edges start to brown. This normally takes
about 10 minutes but keep a close eye on them in case they burn.
Add the crushed garlic and stir it into the onions.
Next, reduce the heat to its lowest setting and leave the onions to carry on cooking very slowly for
about 30 minutes, by which time the base of the pan will be covered with a rich, nut brown,
caramelised film.
After that, pour in the stock and white wine and a good helping of salt and pepper. Stir the whole
lot with a wooden spoon making sure that you scrape the base of the pan well to gather up all the
delicious, caramelised butter.
As soon as it all comes up to simmering point, turn down the heat to its lowest setting, and leave it
to cook very gently, without a lid, for about an hour.
All this can be done in advance but, when you're ready to serve the soup, bring it back up to
simmering point, and have a taste to check for seasoning.
While it’s coming back up to a simmer, lightly toast or grill the slices of focaccia.
Warm a tureen or individual soup bowls in a low oven and pre-heat the grill to its highest setting.
Then ladle the hot soup into your bowl(s) and top with the toasted focaccia slice croutons, allowing
them to float on the top of the soup.
Now cover each focaccia slice with a generous layer of the grated cheese and leave the whole lot
under the grill until the cheese is golden brown and bubbling.
Serve immediately – and don't forget to warn your guests that everything is very hot!
Serves 4-6
