A delicious play on the flavors of French Onion Soup. Imagine a meatball, cooked to perfection sitting atop a crunchy slice of baguette bread and melted gruyere cheese, topped with caramelized onions. This is perfect to serve as a big appetizer or a main dish if accompanied with a salad or roasted vegetables.
8 ceramic ramequins a large muffin tin will work as well, un-molding can be tricky though
1 large bowl for mixing the meatball mixture
1 medium sautée pan
1 large cookie sheet
Ingredients
2large yellow onions
2tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoonsbalsamic vinegar
1Lbground beef 85%-15%
1extra large egg
1/3unseasoned breadcrumbs
1/4whole milk ricotta
1tablespoondried tarragon
1 teaspoonchili flakes
1 teaspoon garlic powder
8 1 inchslices of baguette breadabout 1/3 of a baguette
1cupshredded gruyere cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350º.
Slice the onions into 1/2 inch thick slices.
In a large pan heated to medium high heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter a tablespoon of olive oil and place the onions flat to start cooking.
Season the onions with salt and pepper.
Saute the onions for 2-3 minutes per side. Make sure that when they are flipped, the ring remain in position.
Once the onions are cooked on both side, set aside.
Pour 1/2 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar in the bottom of each ramequin.
Place an onion disk into each ramequin. Try to match the size of the the disk to the ramequin if using different sizes.
In a large bowl combine the egg, breadcrumbs chili flakes, garlic powder, dried tarragon, ricotta cheese and season with salt and pepper. Mix all the ingredients well as to create a paste.
Once the paste has been mixed well, add the meat to the mixture and combine well.
After the breadcrumb mixture and the meat are well combined, split the mixture in half. Then in half again and in half once more. This should give you 8 pretty evenly sized meatballs.
Create an assembly line to make the process easier.
Have the sliced bread and the grated cheese next to the ramequins and meat mixture.
Add a meatball on top of each onion disk and pack it down gently.
Add a slice of bread on top of the meatball. Tear the bread a bit to help it fit into the meatball easier. Pack it down tightly into the meat.
Add 2 tablespoons of the shredded gruyere cheese on top of each meatball and pack down the cheese into the bread.
Place the ramequins on top of a large baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes until the top is golden and delicious. If need be, finish baking the ramequins on broil for 2-3 minutes to help get the cheese get melted and golden on top.
Once the top of the cheese is golden and melted remove from the oven and flip each ramequin onto a plate.
The onion disk should now be on top with the meatball beneath it siting on top of the bread and cheese crouton.
Enjoy!
Recipe Video Instructions
Notes
If using a muffin tin instead of ramequins, the potion size of the meatballs should change. You can yield the meat to form 10 smaller meatballs. Do not forget to adjust the bread slices and cheese as you'll need more.