The Best Lunch Ever

Even though it's winter and the garden at Ryan's is dormant until spring, we still go up to visit him once every week or two. We used to go out to a diner for breakfast or lunch, but Ryan likes to cook, and he often says that he knows he could make something better at home. He was not wrong, and has perfected omelets, grilled cheese, tuna melts, sausage corn chowder, and supper on a bread slice. He has started watching American Masters: At Home With Jacques Pepin on youtube. This a series that PBS ran during the pandemic where the renowned chef cooked many of his favorite dishes at home in his kitchen. Despite being a famous French chef, Pepin makes some simple dishes and prepares omelets, scrambled eggs along with other variations, pancakes, and crepes. 

Ryan watched Onion Soup Gratinée and decided that since onion soup is one of his favorite things, this was something that he should make. He made it once for himself, decided it was delicious, and he would make it for us when we visited on Friday. His house smelled wonderful when we get there because he was caramelizing the onions. He added them to stock and toasted bread to add to the soup crocks. Following Jacques' recommendations, Ryan added toasted bread to the bottom of the crock, placed some grated cheese on top of the bread, ladled the soup in, added another piece of toasted bread and cheese to the top of the crock, and then baked it for 30 minutes or so. 

It was truly the best lunch I've had in a long, long time. Ryan has six crocks and said we could each have two. I couldn't imagine eating more than one, but the first one was so good that I was glad for a second serving. I've made run-of-the-mill onion soup with bread and grated cheese on top, but this versions has deeply caramelized and flavorful onions and the two slices of bread both rehydrate in the soup and mix with the melted cheese to become a delicious, thick soup that has bread, cheese, and onions in every spoonful. Ryan used cheddar, gouda, and gruyere cheeses but you could use almost any cheese you prefer. I love how Jacques Pepin makes cooking approachable and I love how Ryan used that to make us the best lunch ever!