Solid Soup

I mean solid as in tasting great, but also as literally solid because today's recipe isn't soup at all. Today's recipe is a lasagna that's based on a soup. 

Luke and I worked on this recipe together, but the idea for it was all his. 

We took all the essential parts of a French Onion Soup and made them into a lasagna. The beef broth from the soup became a gravy style sauce and also leftover beef pot roast. The onions from the soup stayed as onions, we just caramelized them and tossed them in. And the croutons from the soup became garlic bread that we served on the side. 

This is not your everyday lasagna and you don't want a huge serving of it either. It's very rich and very satisfying, but I really craved a healthy green salad on the side!

French Onion Soup Lasagna 

4 medium onions

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup flour

1 1/4 cups beef broth

1 cup milk

1/2 cup white wine

4 cups of pot roast, pre-cooked

1 egg

1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese

2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated

1 cup gruyere cheese, grated

1 package of lasagna sheets, about 6

Salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare the onions. Use a knife or a mandolin to finely slice onions into thin circles. Caramelize the onions in a frying pan on medium low heat with olive oil for about 10 minutes or until onions soften and begin to turn a caramel colour. Set aside. 

2. Prepare a gravy style sauce. Melt butter in a pot on medium heat. When butter has melted, add flour and stir to combine. Gradually whisk in beef broth, milk, and white wine. Bring sauce to a boil, stirring or whisking constantly. Season to taste with salt and pepper and remove sauce from the heat. 

3. Finely chop or shred pre-cooked pot roast. Set aside. 

4. Beat egg with ricotta cheese. Set aside. Combine two grated cheeses in a bowl and set aside. 

5. Layer your lasagna. Spread about 1/2 cup of sauce on the bottom of a large lasagna pan and top with a layer of lasagna sheets. Spread the ricotta layer on next and top with another layer of lasagna sheets. Divide the caramelized onions and smooth half of the onions on next, top with another layer of lasagna sheets. Spoon the beef layer on next with 1 cup of the mixture of grated cheese, top with 1 cup of the sauce and another layer of lasagna sheets. Top with the remaining caramelized onions, the remaining sauce, and the remaining cheese. 

6. Cover lasagna with tin foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 5 minutes. Let lasagna stand 10 minutes before cutting and serving the French Onion Soup Lasagna with garlic bread (for the croutons on the French Onion Soup) and a green salad. Enjoy!

Great job on making the Top Ten Luke! It makes me so happy that we can share my love of cooking :)

Stay tuned for the first of my two Top Ten Finalist recipes, my Chicken Curry Lasagna recipe is up next!