It’s time for another Mac and cheese! This time, we’re taking the super comforting French onion soup and mac ‘n’ cheesin’ it! And, we’re making it with brown butter and a little sage too, because can fall recipe be made without it?!
This was my first attempt at this dish and it turned out *so* well. Super cheesy, and I’m telling ya it tasted exactly like French onion soup. Hellz yeah! How I did it below!
1. Caramelize your onions — melt half a stick of salted butter in a pan over medium low heat, brown it, then add 4 thinly sliced yellow onions and a big pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions have cooked down significantly and become a deep brown color. About 3/4 of the way through the cooking process, add ~ 1/2 cup dry white wine and scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan. The whole process will take an hour to an hour and a half, so be patient!
2. Make a roux — melt 1 stick of butter in a pan, brown the butter, then add 1/2 C flour and stir, cooking for a few minutes to get the raw flour taste out. Then, add your liquid. You’ll need 4 cups of liquid, and since this is French onion soup style, we’re going to use 2 cups of whole milk and 2 cups of beef broth (I used beef bone broth for extra protein). Add all your liquid in and bring up to temperature again. That’s when the mixture will thicken. To speed up that process, you can heat your broth and milk in a separate pan and add it in a bit at a time while whisking. Season with salt + pepper to taste.
3. Add your cheese — I used ~ 1.5 cups shredded gruyere, 5 oz goat cheese + ~ 1/2 cup of triple cream (similar to brie) and check for seasoning. Season with salt to taste.
4. Add your xtras — I added some freshly grated nutmeg (~1/2 tsp) and about a tbsp of dijon mustard, then gave it a stir and mixed in all my delicious caramelized onions! Once that was all mixed in, I thought I might’ve had too much sauce, so removed a few ladles of it just in case. You can subtract sauce really easily at this point and add it back really easily later on, so there’s no harm in taking this step! It will be near impossible to do once the pasta is added.
5. Add your pasta — I used fusilli corti bucati and cooked it for 5 minutes before adding in. Add more sauce back to the pan if necessary — you want there to be a bit more than you think you need because we’re going to put this in the oven and the pasta will continue to cook and soak up the liquid surrounding it.
5. Top with 1/2 cup shredded gruyere, a sprinkling of breadcrumbs (I made using some leftover brioche — just pulsed the stale bread in the food processor) and some chopped fresh sage and bake at 350 F until the cheese on top is melted and the whole thing is hot and bubbly!
ENJOY! 🙂
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