French Onion Soup Dumplings
I’m always disappointed when French Onion Soup is on the menu at restaurants and I can’t have it because it’s made with beef broth, so whenever I see a unique variation on the recipe I save it. I have several soup versions to try, but these dumplings posted by Kerry over at Serious Eats caught my eye as I had a half packet of wonton wrappers that needed to be used up.
I made a vegetarian version of the recipe, using what ingredients I had on hand, and these dumplings were so rich and delicious, I made them again to finish off the wonton wrappers a few days later. I substituted Jack Daniels for the cognac the first time, and dark rum the second. Both substitutions worked well, creating a lovely rich broth.
French Onion Soup Dumplings
serves 2
For the onions:
1 T butter
1 T olive oil
4 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
pinch of sugar
salt & pepper
1/4 c cognac, bourbon or dark rum
1/2 c dry white wine
1 bay leaf
4 sprigs of thyme
For the dumplings:
15-20 wonton wrappers
1 c grated Gruyere
1/3 c grated Parmesan
chives for garnish
pat of butter
Heat the butter & oil in a pan over medium-low. Add the onions, sugar, salt & pepper and cook, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes.
Add the liquor and let it reduce for a minute before adding the wine, stock, bay leaf & thyme. Simmer for another 30 minutes, adjust seasonings to taste, then strain the onions, reserving the broth. Allow to rest until the broth is cool enough to handle.
While the broth is resting, preheat your broiler and grease two ramekins.
To assemble the dumplings, use your fingers to coat the wonton wrapper with the reserved broth. Place a teaspoon of the onions in the center and fold the wonton into a triangle, pressing the sides to seal. Next bring the corners of the triangle together and twist to form a ball. Place seam side down in the prepared ramekins and repeat.
Top the dumplings with the Gruyere and the Parmesan, and dab the cheese with a bit of butter so that it will brown up nicely.
Broil until golden, about 5 minutes. Top with chives and serve with toothpicks (to aid in eating individual dumplings - we just used kebab skewers instead of forks).
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