Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Kitchen Tips - Caramelized Onions

I'm getting a little lazier in my old age and not as interested in waiting for things.  Case in point - caramelized onions.  I love the sweet earthy taste of onions that have been quietly simmering for a half hour, developing all of their rich sugars, making me fall in love.  Sigh.  Yummy yum.

What I don't love is that half hour of babysitting, stirring, adjusting the heat to make sure it's not burning.  It has become tedious, so I went in search of an alternative.  And found it!  Oven-roasted onions.

I peeled and quartered a bunch of onions, threw them in a cast iron skillet, drizzled with oil, salt and pepper, a little stir.


I popped them into a 400-degree oven and let them go for 15 minutes.  I stirred them.  I let them go for another 15 minutes, turned the oven off and left them in there for another 40 minutes.  And that was it.



Yep, no babysitting and they were fabulous.  I now plan to make these every week or so, keep them in the fridge, and then throw them in whenever I need awesome onions.

This is what I made using these onions this week:

Gourmet Grilled Cheese (with green chiles, artichoke, mozzarella)

Kale/Black Bean Saute with Egg

Egg White Omelet with Zucchini, Olives, and Dried Chillies

The caramelized onions really took these easy cafe-style meals up a notch into the gourmet-tasting category with so very little work on my part.  That's my kind of payback.

I'd love to hear your ideas for using caramelized onions, so please feel free to share.

9 comments:

Domesblissity said...

Terry, what a fantastic idea. I can't wait to try this and use it up in a few ways. I'm thinking of bruschetta, a savoury pickle, on pizzas or just with a steak or sausages. Great stuff! (Would love for you to link this up at my Thriving on Thursdays linky party tomorrow.

Anne xx

Stephanie said...

Mmmm mmmm mmmm!!! These onions look amazing and so do all of the things you made with them! I WANT that grilled cheese!

Adrianne Surian said...

Oh Terry. I wish you were my wife, LOL! These all look so amazing!!

Unknown said...

I am totally going to do this tonight!! I love onions but raw onions upset JP's stomach. This is the perfect solution. So easy too. All of your food looks fantastic. Now I'm hungry, thanks.

Macey said...

I'm so hungry...I shouldn't have read this post right now. LOL

Terri @ A Creative Princess said...

What a great idea, making them ahead and keeping in the fridge! Yours look fabulous! I'm going to try the oven method.

Unknown said...

Shut to the up! I loooove onions! I am so making these tomorrow!
Thank you.
Kerry at HouseTalkN

Becky and the Beanstock said...

OMG to that grilled cheese! Seriously. I think I know what's for dinner. Then again, that kale and egg is pretty tempting. Thanks for the tip -- I'm not actually an onion fan but in the last year I've discovered that I adore caramelized ones.

Rivki Locker said...

great idea! you know what I especially love about this technique? it gets those tear inducing onions off the stovetop sooner! My kids HATE when I sautee onions. I bet they'll like this.

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