Caramelized Onion and Gruyere Grilled Sandwiches: French Onion Soup Sandwiches!

What's not to love about a sandwich? Sandwiches are so versatile. They can pretty much be made for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. They're portable. And there are endless combinations of ingredients you can squeeze between those two slices of bread. What's that you said? My thoughts exactly. There's nothing not to love about a sandwich! A good sandwich that is. ;)

I made these french onion soup sandwiches last week as an easy weeknight dinner for Mike and me. Paired with a side salad, these sandwiches were a perfect meal! Simple and delicious.

The recipe is adapted from Joy the Baker's French Onion Soup Sandwiches recipe. Sooo good!! The ingredients below make two sandwiches.

Ingredients:

-2 medium yellow onions (peeled and cut in half, sliced into 1/4-inch thick semi-circles)

-3 Tbsp. unsalted butter

-1 Tbsp. olive oil

-1/2 tsp. dried thyme

-1/4 tsp. pepper

-pinch of granulated sugar

-3 Tbsp. beer (you could also use beef broth or white wine; obviously, I chose to use beer though)

-gruyere cheese, grated or sliced

-4 slices bread

Instructions:

In a pan over medium heat, add the butter and olive oil, and stir until the butter is melted. Add the sliced onions all at once.  Stir to coat the onions in the butter and oil. Allow the onions to cook, undisturbed, for about 4 minutes. Add the thyme, pepper, and sugar, and stir. Place the lid on the pan and allow the onions to cook for about 4 minutes at a time. Lower the heat if the onions are browning too quickly. Remove the lid to stir the onions every so often. The onions will begin to brown, break down, and look like an onion jam. 

When the onions are entirely browned and soft, add the liquid (beer, broth, or wine). Scrape any burned bits off the bottom of the pan as the liquid evaporates. This will take about 30 seconds. Remove pan from heat and allow to rest.

Butter one side of each slice of bread. On the unbuttered side, add as much cheese (sliced or grated) as you'd like, and then top with the warm onion mixture. Top with more cheese and the final piece of bread. Cook the sandwiches over medium heat in a medium pan. Flip and cook until golden on the outside and melty on the inside. 

We enjoyed our sandwiches on this pain de campagne bread from Whole Foods. It was a perfect bread for these sandwiches!!

Mike got a special ingredient on his sandwich...ham! I added that to his so it was a little more of a filling, hardy sandwich. I enjoyed mine without the ham (although I am quite the ham myself - HA!).

We both loved these sandwiches! 

The next day I brought a non-grilled version to work for my lunch. It had ham, caramelized onions, and some sliced gruyere. Excellent!

What are some of your favorite sandwich ingredient combinations?! I'd love to hear them!

Oh, and stay tuned. My next blog post will be a full recap (as opposed to a quick recap) of Cupcake Camp! And I'll also be sharing the recipe for the cupcakes I made for the event!