Caramelized Onion, Bacon and Cheese Brioche

Sandwiches are one of the simplest stables we have at home during morning rush hours. Grab two slices of bread, sandwich with one fried egg, one lettuce leave, and a slice of cheddar cheese. Heat up in microwave for 15 seconds, pack and go! When I Heart Cooking Clubs announced Sandwich Sensations as the theme of the week, it offered a good opportunity for me to prepare a "deluxe" sandwiches for my family.

The first step is to choose the bread. Since we always use store-bought bread for convenience, it's time to put in some effort and bake my own soft and rich bread.

Browsed Donna Hay's website, Brioche comes up often in french toast or sandwiches. This classic French bread is light, moist and buttery due to high egg and butter content. It can be made as a large loaf, or small individual buns. Perfect for my deluxe sandwiches!

I really enjoyed the process of making Brioches. In addition to Brioche Sesame buns,  I also made some Peach Brioche Buns. It was worth all the efforts after seeing these lovely golden buns freshly from the oven.

Once the bread is set, the rest is pretty straightforward. Donna Hay has never failed to show me how to enjoy a good meal.  I chose her peppery, prosciutto and mozzarella french toast  recipe since all the ingredients are familiar to me.Caramelised onion relish is the little touch in this sandwich.  It brought slight sweetness to the sandwiches, which is quite unusual to our taste.   I made it myself based on a recipe from the web.  

There are some other changes I made to her recipe. One of it was pan-fried streaky bacon to replace prosciutto. That's the reason I renamed this french toast to Caramelized Onion, Bacon and Cheese Brioche.  For the eggs, I made two version of it. One is to use egg mixture as dip, the other is pan-fried egg mixture and place on top of the cheese. Don't ask me which one I love better, they both taste delicious.

I am linking this post to IHCC. We are cooking Donna Hay's recipes on sandwiches, wraps or burgers. Click the link and join the fun!

I am also submitting this post to Souper(Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at  Kahakai Kitchen, Tasty Tuesdays #35, hosted by Anyonita Nibbles.

 

CARAMELISED ONION, BACON AND CHEESE BRIOCHE

(Original recipe can be found here)

Ingredients 

• 4 brioche rolls, halved
• 8 slices of streaky bacon
• 4 slices of cheddar cheese
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup (60ml) milk
• cracked black pepper
• 20g butter

Caramelised Onion Relish

• 1 large onion(halved, thinly sliced)
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• 1 pinch of salt
• black pepper (to taste)
• 2 teaspoons butter
• 1 drop oil (mild oil)

Directions

For caramelised onion:

1. Slowly cook the onions with a pinch of salt, in butter and oil until coloured and soft.
2. Add the sugar and vinegar and continue to cook on a slow heat until sticky and reduced.
3. Allow to cool and serve.

For sandwiches:

1. Spread the bases of the rolls with the caramelised onion, top with the pan-fried bacon and cheddar and sandwich with the tops.
2. Whisk together the eggs, milk and pepper in a bowl. Heat the butter in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Dip the rolls in the egg mixture and cook for 2–3 minutes on each side or until golden and the cheese is melted.