French onion grilled cheese is my love language.
THIS IS SO EXCITING!
I’m sharing the very first recipe from The Pretty Dish today and eeeeep, let’s talk about it. It’s freaking DELISH. It’s cheesy. And caramelized oniony. And toasty and golden and buttery!
MY OTHER RECIPESI write about this in the book, but when I was a kid, I was obsessed with ordering French onion soup for the bread and cheese alone. I mean, I would even touch the onions. My mom would get so annoyed and tell me that I couldn’t order it if I didn’t eat the actual soup… and I’d end up failing every time. Just that melty cheese that blankets the bowl in a warm hug was enough for me to beg for that darn soup.
Not a ton has changed since I’m clearly still very enticed by the bread and the cheese. If I’m being real, its probably my main motivation for ordering said soup. But! These days I eat all of the caramelized onions too. And all the broth. But the bread and cheese… ooomph.
This French onion grilled cheese is a little play on that! Onions that caramelize FOREVER (seriously, for like 40 minutes or more) and then get shoved between gruyere cheese which is to die for. The golden, toasty, buttery bread is spread with thyme butter and I pretty much want a vat of that in my fridge at all times now. It’s SO good.
The recipe calls for fresh thyme, but I had a tricky time finding it this time of year. Weird, because I can find every other herb! I subbed in dried thyme and it was still super. You can see a video of me making this baby below!
It’s blowing my mind that The Pretty Dish will be out in almost one month. I AM SO IN LOVE WITH THIS BOOK! I can’t even explain how much I love it. How amazing the recipes are. How wonderful it looks inside. It’s just the best! You can preorder right now and the book will be in your hands on March 20th. I would love you forever.
Also! Almost every single recipe in the book can be made in 60 minutes or less (with most even being 30 minutes or less) – and it is recipes like this one (and some slow cooker options!) that push the limit a bit. You don’t HAVE to take a full 45 or 60 minutes to truly caramelize the onions if you don’t have time. You can always even toss in some brown sugar and have them nice and caramely in 20 minutes! Then maybe stand over the pan and eat them with a fork.
Now there is zero reason not to make this.
Gruyere French Onion Grilled Cheese with Thyme Butter
Ingredients:
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 sweet onion, very thinly sliced
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 slices of sourdough bread
- 6 ounces gruyere cheese, freshly grated (or sliced!)
- thyme butter for spreading
thyme butter
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 ½ teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
- pinch of salt
Directions:
Heat a large pot over low heat and add the butter. Once melted, add the onions, thyme and salt, stirring well. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are golden and caramelized. This will take a full 30 to 40 minutes – or longer!
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Spread the outsides of the bread with the thyme butter. Top one side with the grated cheese, then a spoonful of the caramelized onions. Top with the rest of the cheese and other slice of bread. Repeat with remaining bread and ingredients.
Cook the sandwich in the skillet until the cheese is melted and bubbly and the bread is golden brown. Serve immediately!
thyme butter
Stir the ingredients together in a bowl. This keeps great in the fridge!
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Can’t I just live inside there?
