As promised, here is the recipe and pictures of The Panade. It is an extremely labor intensive recipe - but as my husband told me once he tasted it, it's the best thing he's ever put in his mouth. And that's from the self proclaimed meatatarian.
Technically, a panade is made with melted duck fat. However, since I am vegetarian, we just used a lot of butter! Butter makes everything better!
First thing is to slice the sourdough baguette. Toast in the oven for 30-45 minutes until dry and crunchy, at 300F.
4 cloves of garlic, remove papery skin. Chop 2 tablespoons of fresh thyme. Set aside.
Slice thinly 2lbs of sweet onions, such as Vidalia or Maui.
Place onions in a skillet over low heat, for about 30-45 minutes, with about 1/2 a stick of butter divided equally between each skillet. Towards the end, caramelize the onion by turning up the heat, and gently browning, but not burning. Pour a little bit of the broth into the onions, about 1.5 cups divided equally and simmer down until reduced. Pepper liberally.
While you're waiting for the onions and bread, take some time out and have some pink champagne!
Once your bread is toasted, rub both sides with the garlic, and sprinkle with red wine. Break into 2" pieces. Or if a small baguette, just break in half.
Thinly slice a large Butternut squash - about 1lb. A mondoline would have been helpful here, but we managed with a sharp knife.
Broth. Here is my home made pre-made broth. You need about 12 cups of broth. Mine is vegetarian, and I make a huge amount of it on weekends so that we always have it. You can make a huge amount, for very little money, and it is TREMENDOUSLY better than what you buy in a store. You could also use Beef broth if you eat meat.
Grate about 1/4 pound of cheese - 1/2 Gruyere, !/2 high quality Parmigiano-Reggiano. Set aside a 1/4 cup for later.
IT'S TIME TO ASSEMBLE THE PANADE! Place broken pieces of bread in the bottom of your large, preferably cast iron dish.
Layer onions, and then squash over the bread. Grind pepper over the squash, and sprinkle with cheese.
Pour in enough broth to come up to the level of the squash. Repeat starting with the bread and finishing with the cheese, until you reach the top of your dish with about a 1/2 inch to spare between the last layer of cheese and the top of your dish. Pour in more hot broth to just below the top layer of squash.
Cover tightly with aluminum foil, and place on a baking sheet. (While not looking at the dirty bottom of my oven!). Bake until the broth is bubbling - checking every ten minutes or so. Once the broth bubbles, trun the heat down to 275F, bake for a total of 3 hours - maintaining a soft steady simmer.
After 3 hours, turn the heat up to 375F, remove the foil, and sprinkle reserved cheese on top of the panade. Bake until golden brown, watching so as not to burn. Remove from oven, let sit for 15 minutes.
After 3 hours, turn the heat up to 375F, remove the foil, and sprinkle reserved cheese on top of the panade. Bake until golden brown, watching so as not to burn. Remove from oven, let sit for 15 minutes.
Finished!
Spoon into bowls, and pour more champagne! And realize that it was worth every minute of work!
Especially when it makes your husband this happy!