Onion, Mustard & Ale Soup

Ingredients: (serves 4 approx)

4 large onions
1 tablespoon of coarse grain mustard
1 bottle of brown ale (I use Mann's but any will do such as Newcastle brown etc)
1 average sized spud
Knob of butter or alternative
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 a pint of veg stock (I use swiss veg bouillion)
Salt and pepper to taste
50g of mature cheddar cheese to garnish

Method:

Peel the spud and chop into 4, put on the boil... then whilst this is boiling, melt the butter slowly in a large pan and cover with the olive oil, avoiding burning, add salt and pepper to taste.

Roughly chop the onions and put them into the melted butter and oil mixture.

Stir through, coating all the onions. Add the mustard and a couple of splashes of the ale and stir though coating the onions. Cook on a low-medium heat for about 10 mins, keeping stirring.

Then begin to add the rest of the ale bit by bit, and stir through. You may not need the whole bottle. I find about 2/3rds is enough and leaves you some to drink whilst you are slaving over a hot stove.. but it depends how thick you like your soup!

Once the spud is cooked through add this and stir in, add the stock.. again dependant on how thick you like your soup and stir. Leave all this to simmer for about 20 mins on a low heat with the lid on.

Then blitz the lot with a hand held blender.

Serve topped with a bit of grated cheddar, and salt and pepper to taste.