Soup and a Sandwich

So like I said before, soup is one of all time favorite things to eat and french onion soup is waaaay up there on my favorite kinds of soup. I found a recipe on Allrecipes for it and modified it a bit. I used gruyere and mozzarella but you can also use Swiss cheese or Provolone. This is actually the first time I made it so I think there is still room for improvement. But it still came out quite good!

French Onion Soup
Source: Allrecipes

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of butter
3 onions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon of white sugar
1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups of beef broth
2 cups of chicken broth
1/4 cup of red wine
1 bay leaf
1 french baguette
4 ounces of gruyere cheese, shredded
4 ounces of mozzarella cheese, shredded
salt and pepper, to taste

Direction:

Melt butter or margarine in a 4 quart saucepan. Stir in sugar. Cook onions over medium heat for 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

Stir in flour until well blended with the onions and pan juices. Add water, wine, and beef broth; heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low. Cover soup, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Cut four 1 inch thick slices of bread from the loaf. Toast the bread slices at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) just until browned, about 10 minutes. Reserve the remaining bread to serve with the soup.

Ladle soup into four 12 ounce, oven-safe bowls. Place 1 slice toasted bread on top of the soup in each bowl. Fold Swiss cheese slices, and fit onto toasted bread slices. Place soup bowls on a cookie sheet for easier handling.

Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 10 minutes, or just until cheese is melted

And what could be better than having soup all on its own, than having soup with a sandwich! I decided to make paninis with the leftover gruyere, some gammon ham and tomatoes. But you can fill paninis with most combinations of meat, cheese or veggies. I used my George Foreman grill but you can use a regular grill or grill pan.

Ham, Cheese and Tomato Panini
Source: Myself

Ingredients:

2 ciabatta rolls
1 tomato, sliced
2 pieces of gammon ham
4 ounces of sliced or shredded gruyere cheese
tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

Preheat grill to medium heat. Slice ciabatta rolls in half. Arrange ham, 2 or 3 tomato slices and cheese onto the sandwich. Brush bottom and top of sandwich with olive oil. If using a grill pan, grill on both sides for a few minutes each until cheese has melted. If using a George Foreman, grill for about 4 minutes.