This recipe is bursting with flavor!  Onions are often overlooked as the main star of the dish but this soup recipe really highlights their natural sweetness.

Ingredients:

5 slices thick cut bacon
2 jumbo yellow onions
1 white onion
1 small sweet onion
1 Vadalia onion
5 yellow pearl onions
3 large shallots
3 scallions – sliced
1 stick plus 3 tbls butter
3 tlbs flour
1 tsp dried thyme
5 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 bay leaves
black pepper
salt – In this recipe I use fabulous J.Q. Dickinson salt which is a West Virginia company and can be found here http://www.jqdsalt.com/ (A gift from my wonderful friend Jeanine Faegre)

Start by small dicing and rending the bacon.

Remove the bacon to a paper towel to drain.

Add the stick of butter to the bacon fat and melt, scraping the bits of bacon from the bottom of the pan.

Slice all onions and add to the fat over medium-high heat.  Cover and let cook down for an hour an a half – stirring every 10-15 minutes.

When the onions begin to fall apart, remove the lid and cook for 20 additional minutes.

The onions will begin to slightly caramelize and stick to the bottom of the pan.  When this happens, remove from the heat to cool.

Blend in the food processor until smooth.  Let the onion puree cool.

In the meantime, add the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter to the pan along with the flour, thyme, salt and pepper – creating a roux.

Cook the roux for 5 minutes, stirring constantly with a whisk.

Add the chicken stock and bay leaves.  Cook for 10 minutes until boiling.

Add onion puree and cream – heat until boiling.

Remove from heat and adjust seasonings to taste. For this dish I go a tad heavy on the black pepper.

Garnish with scallions and enjoy.