French Onion Soup Sandwich

Some of the crew from "The Chew" TV show have a new podcast called "Chewed Up".  I watch it on YouTube, but there are multiple outlets.  They post three times a week at 5am Eastern, which is 2am in my time zone.  If I'm up that early, it's for work and I don't have half an hour to watch during chat time.  It's still enjoyable without the community engagement.  They only post one recipe per episode, but they make it count.

This offering from Clinton Kelly makes me wonder why it is not on the menu of every restaurant and diner that serves French onion soup.  It's basically the soup en croûte if you drained off the broth.

I saved enough of the Rondelé from the last dish to make two lunches worth of these open-faced sandwiches.  I'm using the term "sandwich" loosely, since I consider all open-faced sandwiches to be a form of pizza.  As far as I know, I'm the only one who thinks like that.

Clinton's original version makes four servings, so that's how I'm posting, with some amendments for how I made it.  I ended up with extra onions and put them in the leftover broth from the jar to make a slow cooker beef meal the next week.  Or you could have them as instant French onion soup.

*4 slices sourdough or other crusty bread
2 Tb butter
3 medium onions or 2 large
1/4 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
1/2 tsp thyme, or to taste
1/2 tsp sugar, if needed, to assist browning
*1/2 C beef broth
*splash of red wine, optional
*8 Tb Boursin, Rondelé, or similar soft herb cheese
4 oz gruyere or Swiss cheese, shredded if available 

1.  In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat while you peel and thinly slice the onions.  Sprinkle them in evenly.  Add salt and thyme and toss everything to coat with butter.

2.  Continue to cook, stirring every ten minutes, until caramelized to your liking.  If they aren't browning after about half an hour, sprinkle in a bit of sugar.  Everything should be a soft mess.

3.  Deglaze the pan with red wine, if using, and beef broth.  Allow both to cook off until the mixture is fairly dry, then remove from heat.

4.  Lightly toast the bread, just to firm it up a bit.  Spread each slice with 2 Tb of the Boursin cheese, like you were putting cream cheese on a bagel.  Top with a generous amount of onions, then the shredded or sliced cheese.

5.  Toast under the broiler for 2-3 minutes, or in the toaster oven for smaller batches at 400º until the cheese is drippy and browning.  Let rest a few minutes so no one burns their mouths, then serve.

Difficulty rating  :)