French Onion Mac N Cheese!
So... I've been away for a while. I ran away to Vegas and got married, and then went on my honeymoon, and then came back and things have been kinda busy getting back to work, and now getting ready for Christmas... In the meantime, I lost the list I made of all the different ideas I had for the varieties of mac n cheeses I wanted to try to make, but here's one I tried out recently! It worked out pretty good!! It's a French onion mac n cheese! It ended up being super creamy and cheesy.
It's all about the onions...
To make the onions you need to spend some time with them. It's kind of a labor of love I guess. I used two large white onions for this, and I chopped them into large chunks. I didn't think onion slices would work out well in a macaroni and cheese. I'm pretty sure the chunks worked better for this. Then I melted about 2 tablespoons of butter and put my chopped onions in my pan.
I'll admit, I haven't had a LOT of experience making caramelized onions, so my husband had to help me a little bit with this. I let the onions cook down a bit, and they started to brown. My husband advised me to add sugar to the onions to help them caramelize. I ended up adding about 4 teaspoons to all of the onions (it looks like a lot but they shrank).
Oh, I also added some pepper here.
It takes some time and patience, especially if you're already hungry, but eventually the onions will change to a dark brown colour. I added some beef stock to this just to give it some extra darkness and flavor.
I think by the time I finished my onions, they were slightly darker brown. I added a little salt here too (to taste!)
Now it's time to get the cheese started...
I bought some Gruyere cheese, and mozzarella for this. I know Gruyere can be kind of a strong-flavored cheese for some, and I wanted to mellow it out with the mozzarella.
I melted three tablespoons of butter, then I added three tablespoons of flour to it. As usual, let that cook together so you get rid of the "floury" taste. Plus, when you cook it until it's light brown-ish, it kinda gives it a bit more flavor. Maybe that's all in my head. I don't know.
Once you get it cooked and blended together, gradually add three cups of milk. I usually add about 1/2 to 1 full cup at a time, and whisk it together until it's thick, and then add more until it's all incorporated. I used 2% milk for this, because it's what I had in my fridge. Once I get all the milk in, I mixed about a teaspoon each of garlic and onion powder in.
As soon as the sauce thickens, take it off the heat, and add your cheese. I'm a little heavy-handed with the cheese (sorry not sorry)! I would say I used about 1 to 1 and 1/2 cup each of the Gruyere and mozza.
It turned into this!!
Hey this might even work for a fondue or something... but I don't know anything about fondue! This was pretty thick.
Here's where the magic happens!
Okay, so...once the cheese sauce is done, add your onions.
This is how the sauce looked once I mixed the onions in. So good!!
I hope while you were making your cheese sauce, you had your macaroni cooking, because I forgot and I had to wait... I hate waiting, but for some reason, I always forget. I get too wrapped up in everything else, I forget one of the most important parts!! I'd say I used 2 cups, maybe 3 cups of uncooked macaroni in this, and once it was cooked, I mixed the macaroni into the pan with the sauce, and then it was ready to eat.
But we ain't done yet!!
Alright, I like to experiment a little, and obviously this time is no different..muahahahaa... I crushed up some croutons, and used those on top of the macaroni and cheese instead of the Panko this time, cause... French Onion soup, onions, broth, croutons... why not?? They were store bought croutons, garlic and herbs I think! Then I put it under the broiler. Keep a close eye on it. My croutons seemed to burn on me a little faster than Panko does (whoops!).. I put my leftover cheese on top with the croutons too!
This is how it looked when it came out! Mmmmm.
It turned out pretty good. I'd make this again for sure.
Recipe:
(for the caramelized onions)
2 tbsp butter or margarine
2 onions chopped into large chunks (about 1/2 inch)
4 tsp sugar
Salt & pepper to taste
1/8-1/4 cup beef stock
*note: add the salt later because if it's added early it will draw the water out of the onions, and this is not good for the caramelizing process*
(for the cheese sauce)
3 tbsp butter or margarine
3 tbsp flour
3 cups milk (I used 2%)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 to 1&1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese
1 to 1&1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
Method:
1. Melt 2 tbsp of butter or margarine in a pan. Add the onions once the butter (or margarine) is melted. Add pepper to taste. Gradually add about 4 teaspoons (or less, or more, depending on your taste). Let the onions caramelize, stir them occasionally. Add beef stock once caramelized. Let it reduce a bit, then add salt to taste (if needed).
2. Boil a large pot of water, and add macaroni to boiling water. Pasta should be cooked until al dente.
3. Melt 3 tbsp of butter (or margarine) in a pan, and add 3 tbsp of flour once the butter is melted, and whisk together. Let cook until golden brown. Gradually mix 3 cups of 2% milk into the pan. Let this mixture thicken. Once thick, remove from heat and add about 1 cup each of Gruyere and mozzarella cheese.
4. Add caramelized onions to cheese sauce, then add cooked macaroni.
5. Transfer to oven-save baking dish and top with crushed croutons and remaining cheese, and bake under broiler for 5 minutes, or until golden brown/toasty on top.
6. Eat it!