French Onion Grilled Cheese

I love all soups.  In fact - and I may have shared this story before - on our first date, Mark brought me to a little soup and sandwich shop because he said he noticed that I seemed to mostly eat "mush."  That boy is accurate!  I do love mush.  Mashed potatoes, the insides of breads- and soups.  Now, it's about 900 degrees today (and muggy; just look at my hair) so soup is not something that I am craving.  So, when I saw a recipe for a sandwich that replicates the flavors of one of my top 10 soups, I was thrilled.  French onion grilled cheese: why haven't I thought of that!?

With the help of my adorable sous chef (see left), I made these sandwiches tonight for me, him, Kenzie, Mom, and Nick.  I have to admit that I was nervous about caramelizing the onions.  I don't think I have had much success with this before.  I can't exactly remember when I attempted this, but I have memories of burning them.  Luckily today they turned out perfectly.  The secret is not to rush things; keep the heat on low and let the onions take their time as they brown up in some salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar!  Interestingly, I am not a big onion fan; in fact, I hate them when they are raw.  But caramelize them - and I'm sold!  Once they're cooked, I added some fresh thyme from my herb garden, and put them on sliced baguettes with gouda and gruyere.  I toasted them up in the pan with some butter and rubbed the bread with a sliced garlic clove, and there you have it, folks: French onion soup, but as a sandwich.  The onions are delicious, and the fresh thymeis a great addition.  Add to that the creamy mix of those two amazing cheeses (I have previously mentioned my love for gruyere!) and the buttery bread... holy moly.  Kenzie was a huge fan, and surprisingly enough, so were Mom and Nick!  A successful - and pretty easy - dinner at last :)

Pardon the bad picture; they tasted great!

Recipe:
French onion grilled cheese