Cheese and onion soup

Since I tasted a sublime onion and cider soup the other day I've been dying to make one and the few desultory snowflakes this morning were all I needed to get going. This is a much more rustic version but worked rather well. I used the lovely Roscoff onions I bought the other week and a good wedge of Gorwydd Caerphilly I had left over from my purchases at the Cheesefest which interestingly made it taste creamy rather than too obviously cheesy and balanced the sweetness of the onions. Perfect February food!

Serves 3-4
1 tbsp olive oil
25g butter
450g good quality onions, peeled and sliced
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp flour
500ml light vegetable stock (I used 2 tsp Marigold bouillon powder)]
150ml dry cider
50g Gorwydd Caerphilly, rind removed and grated
Salt and white pepper

Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan or casserole, add the butter then tip in the onions, season lightly and stir well. Cook over a low heat for about 20 minutes until soft and golden, stirring occasionally adding the thyme half way through. Stir in the flour, add the stock and cider and bring up to simmering point. Turn the heat down and cook for another 20 minutes or so. Take the pan off the heat, leave for a minute until it's stopped bubbling then stir in the Gorwydd Carphilly. Adjust the seasoning and serve. You could scatter over a bit of chopped parsley if you wanted to pretty it up with something green.