My daughter hates onions but she loves French Onion Soup. Part of this I think is because of all the drippy, melty cheese that is on the soup. This recipe has all the cheese and lots of great flavor.
Verdict:
Confession, I didn’t make this meal my partner did. We have been nursing the remainder of the flu for the past week and she graciously offered to help with dinner. We both learned quite a bit about how I need to describe a recipe to her and tell her what to do.
This is not quite as done as it should be. She sweated the onions versus caramelized them. She was afraid of burning them. They will not burn at a medium low heat unless you walk away and do not check on them. You want to stir them every few minutes for about 15-20 minutes to get them nice and brown. This will help your sauce be brown instead of beige. It was still good and tasted great but the caramelized onions would take it to the stratosphere in flavor.
Ingredients:
- 2 large sweet onions, sliced thinly
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup dry white wine (or beef stock if prefer)
- 1 cup beef stock
- 4 boneless pork chops, 1–1 ½ inches thick
- salt and black pepper
- sprinkling dried thyme
- sprinkling garlic powder
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 6 slices provolone cheese
- 1 1/2 cups Swiss cheese, shredded
- parsley, for serving if desired
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Melt butter in a large oven proof skillet over medium heat. Add onions to pan and season with a sprinkling of salt and black pepper. Cook 4-5 minutes until the onions start to soften. Add white wine to pan and stir well. Allow onions to continue cook down to well browned pieces. This should take at least 15-20 minutes to cook. If they are cooking to fast turn the heat down to medium-low and stir occasionally.
- While onions are cooking season pork chops (both sides) with salt, black pepper, thyme, and garlic powder.
- Remove onions from pan and without wiping out the pan add olive oil. Warm in pan. Add pork chops and brown on each side about 4-5 minutes. Remove onions from pan.
- Return onions to pan and sprinkle with flour. Stir well and cook for 1 minute. Add beef stock to pan and bring to a low simmer. Taste and season as needed with salt, black pepper, or garlic powder.
- Place pork chops back in pan. Cover with some of the onion mixture. Place slices of Provolone cheese over the pork chops and then sprinkle with Swiss cheese.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes until cheese is melted and starting to brown around the edges. Remove pan from oven and allow to sit for 3 minutes before serving.
What's for Dinner Moms? 
This is one of my favorite soups. Caramelizing the onions is the toughest part b/c one must babysit them while cooking.
Will your partner try to make it again now that she’s got this first attempt complete and it was good? 🙂
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Yes, we had a great conversation about onions and the differences between sautéed, sweated, and caramelized.
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Nice recipe
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Thank you!
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That is so nice that she is trying to do these things and fun you are teaching her the fine points of cooking! Yummm
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Thank you. Trying she has definitely gotten better. Before she could burn just about any dinner she made or overcooked everything because she was afraid of raw food. Now dinners are edible. 😉
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Thats cool!!
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I have a family of onion-haters, too. Such a challenge for the cook! But your dish looks delicious and may sway some minds.
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Thank you. My daughter is the foremost onion fighter and can find it buried in just about everything! If there is not a too “oniony” taste as long as she cannot see it she is fine.
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Same
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I don’t usually do these but this is a happy festive one. I would love to share it with you! Yay! https://tiffanybelleharper.com/2017/12/20/the-christmas-tag/ Tiffany. X
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Above is a Christmas Tag. With love. I chose you across the pond and thank you for sharing your family recipes with me. xx
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First of all, Merry Christmas to all four of you. I am running behind on the cards this year, but nothing new there! You taught me something I never knew: there is apparently a difference between sauteing , carmelizing , and sweating an onion. No wonder the taste often varies for me!!! I shall be checking the nuances of this out after the holiday.
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Thank you, Pat! Merry Christmas to you too! The variance can be subtle but it is how long and instead the hear is that causes the differences. Low heat and time – 20 to 30 minutes will give you that beautiful brown color and sweetness for the soup.
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