The carbs continue. The game is going strong with this French onion mac & cheese. Very strong.
In a spirit that is totally unlike me (much like the donuts from earlier this week), I’ve been wanting mac and cheese so badly. Like, SO badly. I blame the quarantine. I blame the fact that our family cat is very sick. I blame that I’m hating anything else healthy that I’ve been cooking. It’s the blame game we’re all playing right now.
The inspo for this dish is obviously French onion soup, which in itself is perfect and just indulgent enough with its cheesy, broth soaked ‘crouton’ (why do restaurants call it a crouton? It’s a slice of bread) without feeling like you’ve gone too overboard. But I just haven’t been in the soup state of mind and so I veered off the path less traveled into this.
The basics are the same:
onions, caramelized in butter, nice and slow for a good hour, seasoned with fresh thyme and a splash of sherry;
Gruyere, mixed in with some mild goat’s milk Gouda to keep it creamy and well-balanced because I feel like Gruyere can be a lot to take on its own;
Bacon, crisped up, with the fat used to make a delicious roux for our bechamel;
Breadcrumbs, for crunch and to simulate a bit the aforementioned crouton;
and, in a twist, I tried out the new-fangled chickpea pasta that’s been floating around the interwebs. One of the reasons that I rarely eat pasta is that I falls into my gut like a solid brick, and the Banza did not do that. I couldn’t even tell the difference!
The whole thing came together in a flash on the stove, and a few minutes under the broiler crisped up the breadcrumbs sprinkled with extra Gruyere in the most perfect way.
I really think that while you’re playing the blame game, this is the best sort of consolation prize.
French Onion Mac & Cheese
Delicious French onion mac & cheese brings in all the flavors from the famous soup, with caramelized onions, a mix of Gruyere and gouda and a hint of sherry for something extra.
Ingredients
- 6 cups yellow onions, sliced
- 1 TB unsalted butter
- 1/4 pound lean bacon, diced
- 1 TB flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1 TB fresh thyme
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup dry sherry
- 1 1/2 cups shredded Gruyere cheese, divided
- 1/2 cup shredded gouda cheese
- 1 slice bread, toasted and processed into breadcrumbs
- 8 oz (1 box) chickpea elbow shaped pasta
Directions
- Step 1 In a large sauté pan, add the butter and onions, thyme, salt and pepper. Cook over medium-low for one hour, stirring occasionally until the onions are brown and caramelized. Add the sherry to deglaze the pan and scrape up any bits from the bottom of the pan. Set aside.
- Step 2 About 20 minutes before the onions are done, cook the pasta according to the directions on the box.
- Step 3 Remove the cooked onions from the pan. In the same pan over medium heat, add the diced bacon and cook until the fat has rendered and the bacon is crispy. Remove the bacon pieces to a paper town to drain, and remove the fat from the pan, reserving 1 TB of the bacon grease.
- Step 4 Preheat the broiler to high.
- Step 5 To the bacon fat, add the flour and stir for 1 minute until it has brown and cooked through. Add the milk and nutmeg, and whisk, ensuring the flour has been well incorporated. Add 1 cup of the Gruyere and the Gouda, and stir in a figure 8 motion until all the cheese has melted completely. Add the noodles, bacon and onions and mix until all is well incorporated. Remove from the stove and place into an oven-proof skillet or pan.
- Step 6 Top with the breadcrumbs and the remaining Gruyere. Place under the broiler for about 3 minutes, until all the cheese has melted. Serve warm.
