French Onion Soup Grilled Cheese

MarraMamba's Note:

one of Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio's sandwich'es from his Wichcraft restaurant. Add lettuce, spinach or anything else you like but its great plain. caramelizing the onions takes time but worth it. (you can also do a double batch and freeze half for another time)

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 8 slices aged gruyere cheese (minimum)
• 8 slices rye bread, with caraway seeds
• 1 large Spanish onion, sliced thinly lengthwise
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Over a medium-high flame, heat the oil and add the onions. Cook them slowly (make sure the heat is high enough that they don’t steam) and allow them to gently caramelize, about 30 minutes. Add salt, pepper, and the butter at the end to season.
2. Assemble the sandwich. On a slice of rye, layer cheese, onions, and a second layer of cheese. Cover with the second slice of rye. Place on a panini grill and press. Sandwich is ready when the cheese has melted.

Reviews

[jlab]

To.Die.For. I shred the Gruyere, because I like it to completely melt. Let the onions caramelize, add a tiny bit of sugar in the last few minutes of cooking, then sort of pile them up in the pan, stick the butter on top of the pile and let it melt down while I get the other stuff ready. Caraway seeds in the bread are essential!

[bluemoon downunder]

Love gruyere, love caramelised onions so really looked forward to making this. Didn't have rye bread on hand so used ciabatta: I love its crunchiness. Thoroughly enjoyed this super sandwich and shall be making it often. Scaled back to two sandwiches for just two of us but used a whole onion. Extra caramelised onion on the side: great! :) Thanks for sharing this recipe, MarraMamba!

[Lainey6605]

I loved this grilled cheese! I did have some gruyere cheese that I needed to use so I was happy to have found this recipe. It is wonderful with the rye bread and onion. A great sandwich! Thanks for sharing.