Fennel soup with baked onions

Ingredients

2 onions, skin left on and left whole
1/2 teaspoon cracked pepper
1/2 cup plus 4 cups chicken stock, defatted
1 cup nonfat milk
4 fennel bulbs, sliced
3 large potatoes, peeled and diced '
1 carrot, shredded
1 cup light evaporated milk
salt and pepper to taste
feathery fennel on top of bulbs for garnish

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 deg F
Put onions in a pan and sprinkle with pepper. Add 1/2 cup chicken stock and cover pan with foil.
Bake in oven for 1 1/2 hours. Remove onion and squeeze out. Puree onion.
Whisk onion puree into milk and 4 cups of stock.
Add fennel, potatoes, and carrot and cook 30 minutes.
Stir in evaporated milk and season with salt and pepper.
Garnish each dish with fresh fennel.