French Onion Soup Mac and Cheese

March 24

This was the second time I made this delicious mac and cheese. French Onion Soup is my favorite soup, and I love mac and cheese, so when I saw this recipe, I knew I needed to try it. You can find the original recipe here, by Brett Greenberg. I found it on Food Network's website. It's a very time consuming recipe, but worth it.

Topping
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan

Bechamel Sauce
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups 2% milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 ounces Gruyere, grated
3 ounces mozzarella, grated

French Onion Soup
2 tablespoons butter, plus 1 tablespoon
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 large white onions, thinly sliced
6 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons honey
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup cooking sherry
2 cups beef stock
1 teaspoon thyme
1 pound penne pasta, cooked al dente

Topping: Combine bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese in a small bowl and set aside.

Bechamel Sauce: Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter over low heat in a medium saucepan. Add the flour and stir to combine. Stir constantly, for about 3 minutes. Increase heat to medium and whisk in the milk or half-and-half, adding a little at a time and cook until thickened, about 4 to 5 minutes. Lower heat, season with the salt and pepper and add Gruyere and mozzarella cheeses. Stir until cheese is melted and sauce is smooth. Set aside.




French Onion Soup: Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter and olive oil over medium-high heat in a large saucepan. Add onions, cover, and cook 10 to 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove cover, add garlic and honey, and continue to cook uncovered, stirring frequently, until onions are caramelized, about 10 to 15 minutes. Season with salt and a generous amount of pepper. Remove pot from heat and add sherry. Return to heat and stir to remove browned bits from bottom of pan. Reduce sherry by half, then add stock and thyme and cook until almost all liquid is evaporated. Remove from heat.





Grease a 3-quart baking dish or casserole with the last tablespoon of butter or spray with nonstick cooking spray. Combine cooked pasta with onion soup mixture and bechamel sauce and stir well to combine. Transfer pasta to baking dish and sprinkle with bread crumb/Parmesan topping.

Bake until top is golden brown and cheese is bubbly, about 35 to 40 minutes at 350 F. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before serving.


This mac and cheese is delicious. Next time, I'm not going to reduce the liquid in the soup as much as I did this time. Once baked, the mac and cheese wasn't 'soupy' enough.

Hope you enjoy it if you make it!