Melted Onion Panade – delicious!

The other day I cooked and ate a strange and marvellous thing; a melted onion panade.

Panades are generally deemed to be part of the soup family but also, I think, are related to the bread and butter pudding clan, a bit strata-ish if you are an American. 

Melted Onion Panade

Serves 4

Please use good (leftover) bread for this; I like sourdough,  because it goes well with the onions (and I make my own sourdough) but any good rustic substantial sort of bread will do.

3 large onions
3 tbsp olive oil
350g good bread – thickly sliced
About 500ml good beef stock (or other if you prefer) – hot
200g grated cheese

Melt the onions in the olive oil and when utterly tender turn up the heat and stir till starting to caramelise.
~   Preheat the oven to 350°F/180ºC/160ºC fan/gas 4.
~   Lay the sliced bread on a baking sheet and pop in the oven for a few minutes till dried out but not taking any colour.
~   Butter a shallow ovenproof dish and lay a third of the bread slices in it. Break them if necessary to fit in neatly.
~   Spread with half the onions and sprinkle with a third of the cheese.
~   Repeat these layers, using up all the onions.
~   Top with the final third of bread and sprinkle with the last of the cheese.
~   Pour over the stock, adding just enough to lift the top layer of bread so it starts to float. Do this gently so the cheese stays in place!
~   Cover the dish with a sheet of foil and bake for 45 minutes then remove the foil and bake another 20 minutes or so till the cheese is golden and delicious looking.

The result was a thick, warm, comforting (and cheap) sort of French Onion Porridge (OK, I admit it, I did add a tad of brandy to the stock).  Really delicious and I won’t be at all surprised if I make it again quite soon.  I wish I’d tried this before and put it in Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers although that does already contain at least 18 great ways to use up leftover bread.

Speaking of which, obviously this dish lends itself to the addition of any leftovers you have that need using up; wilted chard is traditional and kale fashionable but leftover cooked vegetables, meats, beans etc. will all work well.

And here is an entirely onion-appropriate photo I took on a recent trip to France, I’ve been waiting for a chance to post it!

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