French Onion Soup Pizza

Let me start by apologizing for the lack of posts in the last two months or so. I wasn't really cooking as much as usual, and when I did cook, I wasn't really making a lot of interesting, fun things. I did save up a few recipes during that time though, so I have quite a few lined up to post now. Things should hopefully be back to what might be considered normal. So with that said, let's get to it...

Justin's in California right now for a conference. As much as I miss him when he's gone, I do always look forward to planning my solo meals. There are things that I love that he just can't seem to get behind, so when he's not here, I make as many of them as I can.

My first go-to meal is always French onion soup. Even though he loves onions, Justin's not a big fan of beef broth, so he's naturally not a big fan of French onion soup either. We tried making it with chicken broth once instead, and it was just super weird. Now I only make it when he's out of town or wants to eat something I don't like. We've been making a lot of pizzas lately, and for some reason I thought it would be fun to try topping one with the flavors of French onion soup.

I started by caramelizing the onions in butter and a little sugar. Then instead of adding a bunch of broth to make it into soup, I added just a little (along with some wine--I used a sweet red, but a drier one would work just as well) along with some flour to make a thicker, French onion soup-flavored sauce. I spread that on the pizza dough and topped it with equal amounts of gruyere and parmesan cheese. If I were making actual French onion soup, I wouldn't use nearly that high of a ratio of parmesan, but when combined with the onions here it makes for a really delicious salty sweet combo. The cheese does, however, release a lot of oil when baking, so I just dabbed the top of my pizza with a paper towel to absorb some of it before I cut into it.


Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
2 medium sweet onions, sliced
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup red wine, optional
1/2 cup beef broth (add additional 1/4 c if not using wine)
1/2 teaspoon thyme
Salt
Pepper
16 ounces pizza dough
4 ounces gruyere, shredded
4 ounces parmesan, shredded


Directions

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add sliced onions, sugar, and garlic, and stir well. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until onions begin to caramelize, about 20 minutes.

Add flour and stir well to coat onions. Add in red wine, and cook for 1 minutes, stirring well. Stir in beef broth and thyme, and cook for 2-3 minutes, until thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste, and turn heat to low.

Stretch pizza dough into desired shape and size. Spread onion sauce over the dough, almost to the edges. Cover with cheeses. Bake at 375 F for 15-20 minutes.


Servings: 4