sprinklefingers

ah, onions. the cornerstone of so many culinary delights.

last week i had an overabundance of onions - first i forgot that i already had 3 at home, and i bought 3 more at the market. next, my friend mrs. jeffers gave me a few plucked straight from her garden. then, as luck would have it, another friend gave me several more because she was going out of town and couldn’t use them (what? onions last forever! but, whatever, i’ll take them. thanks!)

much like the old lady who lives in a shoe, i had so many children onions i didn’t know what to do (forgive me. we’re on a big nursery rhyme kick at our house…) so i cooked them down and made a delightful onion-balsamic chutney/spread/pizza topping. you should really try this. no, really.

balsamic onions

you need:

• all your spare onions - say, 10-12.
• olive oil
• butter
• balsamic vinegar
• 1-2 T sugar
• 1 t kosher salt

to prepare:

preheat oven to 300
haul out a lidded dutch oven

1. halve & peel your onions then chop them into larger bite sized pieces.
2. put the onions in the dutch oven.
3. drizzle olive oil over the top of the onions.
4. dot the onions with a bit of butter.
5. drizzle balsamic vinegar over the top of the onions.
6. sprinkle in sugar.
7. sprinkle in salt.

place lid on dutch oven and bake onions for 2 hours. after 2 hours, check on them - stir them around a bit, make sure they aren’t burning & sticking to the sides of the pot. return pot to the oven and let bake until onions are soft & melty…this could take another hour.

yes, i realize there are no measurements here for the oil, butter, vinegar. but you don’t need them. as long as you don’t drown your onions in oil or vinegar, you’ll be fine. just use your judgment knowing they’ll be in the oven for a while doing their slowcooking thing. you can do this. you can!

once the onions have finished cooking, scoop them into a glass jar and store in the fridge. eat on everything: salads, turkey sandwiches, pizza, crackers, cheese slices. these onions can hang out in the fridge for a month or so. they can also be frozen - just divvy up into manageable portions and freeze…thaw before using (unless you plop them into a soup…yum!)