French Onion Tartine
French onion soup is a wonderful thing. But, if we’re being honest with ourselves, I think we’d all agree that the best part is that piece of bread on top, soaked with onion soup from beneath and covered with a layer of browned, bubbling cheese. Why not turn that best bite from a bowl of French onion soup into its own little canape?
In this French Onion Tartine recipe we caramelize onions with butter, thyme, black pepper, and white wine, just like you would making a pot of French onion soup. Once caramelized, we mix in a bit of cream cheese to create a beautiful creamy consistency. This mixture is spooned onto a crostini, topped with a bit of grated swiss, and hit with a kitchen torch or broiler to give it that beautiful, bubbly final touch.
In the first cookbook we had an entire section dedicated to French food. In this second volume there are only a few French recipes which have been tucked into the Global Recipes section, along with a handful of other misfits. This section of the cookbook is particularly diverse in scope, but can be sure that none of the recipes in there are filler.
French Onion Tartine
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. yellow onions quartered and sliced medium
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp thyme
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 4 oz. cream cheese
- salt to taste
- 8 oz. Swiss or gruyere cheese grated
Crostini
- 1 baguette sliced in rounds
- melted butter or olive oil
Instructions
- First, we will caramelize the onions. Start a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium-low heat. When hot, melt the butter and add the onions.
- Caramelization is a slow process, so you will need to cook them over medium-low heat for as much as an hour, as the moisture cooks out and the onions slowly brown. Stir them occasionally, but not too often. The onions should not immediately brown, but rather slowly turn to a soft texture and golden color. Eventually the sugars will begin to stick to the bottom of the pot and burn a bit. That’s when you are done caramelizing.
- Add the thyme and pepper and deglaze the pan with the wine, being sure to scrape the bottom and release that fond. As the fond is incorporated, the onions will take on the familiar, deep brown color. Continue cooking, stirring, and scraping until the moisture from the wine is cooked off. Remove from heat.
- Stir in the cream cheese and mix until it is nicely incorporated. Add salt to taste.
- Thinly slice your baguette into rounds and brush with olive oil or melted butter. Toast these rounds in the oven or in a large skillet over medium heat, flipping once to crisp on both sides.
- Top each crostini with a dollop of caramelized onions and then sprinkle over some grated cheese. Melt the cheese by placing the crostini under a broiler or briefly hitting them with a butane torch.
We’re into the final week of the Kickstarter campaign now, and we still have a ways to go. We’re past the $10,000 mark, but that means we need to bring in the remaining 33% in the next 6 days. If you haven’t yet, now is a great time to hop on the Kickstarter page and pre-order yourself a copy of the book, grab a one-on-one cooking class, or pick up a ticket to a Forest Feast.
As always, here are the other recipes from the Global section of the cookbook:
Baba Ganoush
Bazaar Falafel
Chicken Provencal
Hummus
Kefta Mkaouara
Machboos
Chicken Kyiv
Pao de Queijo
Tofu Musubi