French Dip Sandwiches with Caramelized Onions

I've had all kinds of french dip sandwiches over the years. They can be as simple as sliced lunch meat roast beef on bread with beef bouillon au jus to much fancier, like I'm doing here. Yet, I still consider this to be a lazy recipe through the magic of the slow cooker.

Delicious french dip sandwiches start with the right meat, and there is nothing righter than leftover pot roast. My recipe for Mind-Melting Slow Cooker Pot Roast will do just perfectly. I generally just make up a roast specifically for this purpose. Otherwise, just be sure to save the liquid from the crock pot, then heat up the meat in the microwave.

If you want to eat right away, you can take the meat out, cut some off, and throw it on a bun (my favorite are the "outdoor rolls" you can get at the store). However, you don't need a recipe for that! What really puts this french dip recipe over the top is the the addition of caramelized onions.

Chop one or more onions into long, narrow strips. Keep in mind that caramelized onions have about half the volume (or less!) of raw onions. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a pan large enough for the onions to lay in one or two layers over medium heat. Once melted, add the onions and sprinkle a pinch of salt on top. The salt helps pull some moisture out of the onions, speeding your work. Let the onions cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions have reached a light brown color. If you continue cooking, they will reach a mahogany color and their sweetness will be further amplified, but I prefer the flavor of onions which still have some of their "heat."

Now that we have the meat and onions, let's think about our bun. The bun is pretty good as it comes out of the package, but could use a little extra oomph to keep up with our other ingredients. I used my Misto Sprayer to lightly spray the inside and outside of the bun with olive oil. Toasting these buns for a couple minutes at 400 degrees yields crisp and warm buns. Much better.

Assemble the sandwich and layer your favorite cheese on top. I chose Gruyere. Put the sandwich back in the oven just long enough to melt the cheese and serve with au jus. The liquid from the pot roast recipes produces flavorful au jus, and it's what I use.

Enjoy!