French Onion "Soup" Sandwich Recipe

I believe that most of us have heard French Onion Soup. Some of us have also drank such a soup. But have you tried French Onion "Soup" Sandwich before?

A year back, when I went to Cocotte at Wanderlust Hotel, I ate the French Onion "Soup" Sandwich which blew me away. I was so impressed that I decided to try making this. 

French Onion "Soup" Sandwich

Below is the recipe for making 2 pieces of The French Onion "Soup" Sandwich / Bread. It was difficult to make and required lots of patience. 

Ingredients required

Ingredients required: 

1) Two big yellow / red onions

2) 1/2 tbsp olive oil, to taste

3) 1/2 tbsp butter, to taste

5) Thyme leaves, to taste

6) Black pepper, to taste

5) Salt, to taste

6) 2 slices of bread

7) Grated or diced Gruyere cheese

Grated or diced Gruyere cheese

Items required:

1) Pot / pan (can use non-stick pot/pan too)

2) Knife 

To make Caramelised Onion (this is the hard part) :

1) Trim off the ends and peel off the skin of the onions. Cut the onions into half and slice the onion.

2) Heat up the pot / pan using medium heat. Add olive oil and butter.
3) Add the sliced onions followed by a pinch of thyme leaves, black pepper and salt.
4) Stir them well so that they are coated with oil and butter. Reduce the heat to low and cover the pot / pan to allow the onion to sweat.
5) Open the lid every 5 minutes and give it a stir. The onions will slowly start turning brown. After 20 to 30 minutes, the onions would become soft and golden brown in colour. If the onions start sticking to the bottom of the pot / pan, it means that the pot / pan is too hot. You would need to reduce the heat and/or add a little water (or soup stock) and give it a stir. You should refrain from stirring it too much to get the evenly golden brown onions. 
6) Once the onions are soft and golden brown in colour, you can add soup stock (enhance the flavour, allowing the onions to absorb the flavours) and turn up the heat to evaporate the soup stock.
7) Once the soup stock has evaporated, turn off the heat and remove the caramelised onion from the pot / pan to prevent it from being cooked further.

To make French Onion "Soup" Sandwich: 
8) Grill one side of the two slices bread on a non-stick pan (use a small amount of butter if you do not have a non-stick pan) and slightly brown it. After that remove the bread from the heat.
9) Spread the caramelised onion onto the side of the bread which has been grilled.
10) Add grated / diced Gruyere on top of the caramelised onion.
11) Repeat Step 2 and Step 3 with the 2nd piece of bread
12) Toast or grill the 2 pieces of bread until the Gruyere has melted and it is ready to be served (if you have Happy Call Pan, it would be useful for this step as you can close it and trap the heat in). 

The below pictures show some of the cooking process:

Step 1

Step 3

Step 4 to 5

Step 4 to 5

Step 7

Step 9

Step 12