Description
Looking for a super easy, gourmet appetizer? Then you should definitely try my French onion crostini. Total winner.
Ingredients
Scale
For cooking the onions:
- 2 medium/large Vidalia onions, sliced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon fresh or dried thyme, plus extra for garnish
- 3 tablespoons port wine
- ½ tablespoon of sugar, optional
- 20 small bread rounds (see note#1 about bread choices)
- Olive oil for brushing on bread
- 2 cups shredded gruyere cheese (one 4.9-ounce package)
Optional garnish:
- Fresh chopped parsley
- Dried or fresh thyme
Instructions
-
Cut two peeled onions in half and slice into thin strips (my video shows this well).
- Put sliced onions in a pan with olive oil, salt and pepper. Turn on medium-to-high heat for the first two minutes and stir onions to coat in olive oil. Turn heat down to low-to-medium. Stir off and on for about 20-30 minutes until onions are golden brown. Add the thyme half way through and stir. Towards the end of cooking add the sugar if you are using and stir a couple of minutes. Then add the port wine and stir. The wine will cook off. This means the liquid will soak into the onions and remaining liquid will evaporate. Onions are done when then are a dark golden brown as seen in the video.
- While the onions are cooking, chop the fresh thyme if using. Gently pull the leaves from the stems and chop down into fine bits. Chop enough to add to the onions, plus a little extra for garnish.
- Shred the gruyere cheese and set aside. I usually slice the hardened end off first before shredding.
- Prepare the bread. If you are slicing the bread yourself, your bread rounds should be about ½” in thickness. I used already-sliced French bread and got 20 crostini’s out of it. If you are using a smaller bread like the ciabatta sticks, you will get a few more out of it. My video shows both bread options so you can see the sizes.
- Pour some olive oil in a ramekin (a few tablespoons, more if needed). Brush a little olive oil on top of the bread with a pastry brush.
- Once the onions are cooked and cooled a few minutes, use a fork to distribute to each slice of bread. You’ll need to eyeball-it to distribute evenly.
- Take a pinch of gruyere cheese and place on top of the onions on each slice of bread.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven at 400 for about 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melted and the edges are golden brown and crispy.
- For presentation, place crostini on a small platter or plate. Sprinkle fresh parsley, if using, and some of the extra fresh thyme (or dried if you’re using that). Decorate with a few fresh thyme sprigs and craisins if you have on hand. Serve immediately.
- These freeze well too. Just wrap in plastic wrap and place in freezer-safe slider bag. Reheat in toaster oven at 325 degrees when you’re craving a snack.
Notes
- See the video for visual on the bread options. You could use ciabatta sticks, like I used for my canned crab toasties. Another option is pre-sliced bread in a bag (use some for this recipe and save the rest for other occasions). Buy a thin French baguette at the store and slice the bread yourself (should be about ½” in thickness or just slightly less.) Remember, at the grocery store bakery there are often two types of French bread baguette. The thicker, fluffier loaf or the smaller, thin loaf. For crostini, you’ll want the thinner loaf.