Deconstructed French Onion Soup

One of the things that Ms Cocktail and I like to do is to watch Top Chef. Having just recently joined the 21st century in acquiring a DVR, we were able to catch up on missed episodes while we were out of town. Now for those of you that don’t know, Top Chef is a television show on the Bravo Network where chefs compete each wee until only one is left. They are presented with different cooking challenges that they need to overcome in order to prove who is the top chef.

This year the setting for the program is in Washington, D.C. and the episodes are set in and amongst some of the more famous landmarks here in the area. One of the more recent episodes had the contestants cooking for the head of the CIA, Leon Panetta. Their challenge was to take a well known classic dish and give it a a disguise. This challenge is also known in the culinary world as deconstructing a dish.

One of the contestants (Amanda Baumgarten) was given the challenge of deconstructing French Onion Soup. Her resulting dish looked a lot like soup and she was marked down by the judges accordingly. As Ms Cocktail and I were watching it, I turned to her and said that I could do a better job at deconstructing that dish than she did. And so, my challenge was born. Here is my attempt at Deconstructed French Onion Soup. The flavors are pretty much spot on. It is pretty easy and an interesting way to toss a curve ball to your guests at your next dinner gathering.

Deconstructed French Onion Soup

2 large Vidalia onions
3 Tbs butter
1 cup beef stock
1/4 cup dry red wine (preferably a Pinot Noir)
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp corn starch
6 oz Gruyere cheese, grated
1 loaf of crusty French bread

Slice the onions 1/2 inch thick. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium low heat. Add the onions and cook over medium low heat until they caramelize (40-45 minutes), stirring them occasionally.

While the onions are caramelizing, cut several thick slices of the French bread and arrange on a plate. When the onions are done, arrange them over the bread on the plate then immediately top with the Gruyere cheese.

Return the pan to the stove and raise the heat to high. Deglaze the pan with the red wine. Add the beef stock and the Worcestershire sauce. Make a slurry from the corn starch by combining it with 1/4 cup water and add that to the mix. Bring to a boil and reduce volume by half. Pour this mixture over the stack of stuff on the plate.