4: In a large saucepan over medium heat, pour in 5 tablespoons olive oil and when hot, add onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook for 1 minute, without browning.
As always with soups, the proportions are very approximate, so feel free to adapt them to your own taste, or to what you have on hand. You can replace the olive oil in step 4 with butter, or a mixture of the 2 if you prefer.