Soup’s On

French onion soup flavoured recipes seem to be all the rage right now. Who doesn’t like caramelized onion and Gruyere cheese? I thought it was a bit too much in mashed potato as a side, but would definitely work with scalloped potato. I love a crusty loaf of bread smothered with garlic butter and cheese so decided to make that for dinner with the French onion idea. Then I decided to make a pull apart style monkey bread. I cheated and used biscuit dough instead of making bread from scratch, although you can probably buy some fresh pizza dough to use. The onions took a little time to make properly because they need to be cooked low and slow—otherwise you are making fried onions. I really nailed the flavour with the sherry and beef stock. The onions were so good; I don’t think I will caramelize them any other way. The bread was delicious, although my husband thought it needed more onions and cheese even though it seemed like a lot when I was putting it together. It didn’t stick to the pan and came out nice and easy. The leftovers toasted up well the next day, but it’s probably best eaten the same day you bake it.

French onion soup monkey bread
2 tablespoons canola oil

1 tablespoon butter

2 lbs. onions, thinly sliced

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup dry sherry

1/2 cup beef stock

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons fresh thyme, minced

1/3 cup melted butter

4 cloves garlic, minced

3-4 tablespoons parsley

3 cans large Pillsbury Country Biscuits

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

2 cups Gruyere cheese, shredded

Heat oil and butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pan over high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until they soften, about 15 minutes. Reduce heat to mediumlow, season onions with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions become a deep, golden-brown colour, about 35- 40 minutes. Stir in sherry, scraping up any brown bits from bottom of pan, and then add beef stock, Worcestershire and thyme. Cook until liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat and let cool. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 10-cup Bundt pan. Stir garlic and parsley into melted butter and keep warm. Cut biscuit dough into quarters; gently toss with the melted butter and Parmesan. Put 1/3 of dough balls into Bundt pan. Spread half of onions and Gruyere over dough. Top with another 1/3 of dough and the rest of the onions and cheese. Top with remaining dough balls. Put Bundt pan on baking sheet and bake for 50 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown and cooked through. Let cool for a few minutes and then run a knife around inner edges to make sure bread is not sticking to pan. Invert onto a plate and lift pan from the bread. Serve warm and dig in.

Makes 10-12 servings.