Thursday 14 May 2009

Sweet & Sour Roasted Onions

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Time still seems to be flying by. When does it stop?

Don't get me wrong, I like being busy but at this rate it'll be winter before I know it. I went to Germany last weekend to spend some lovely time with my family and friends, thanks to being able to get a return flight ticket for £20.00. This weekend I'll be catching up with some friends in Yorkshire so there won't be much cooking in my kitchen again.

But, before I go away again I thought I'd quickly share this Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall recipe, which was published in the Guardian Weekend quite a while ago. I love onions, especially slow cooked or roasted as it brings out their natural sweetness. This makes a great side dish to go with any meat or fish.




Sweet & Sour Roasted Onions (serves 4)

1 lb small red onion or shallots, peeled and cut in halve
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 stick celery, finely chopped (optional)
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 tablespoon concentrated tomato puree (paste in the US)
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
3 tablespoons light muscovado sugar
salt, to taste
fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Preheat your oven to 190°C/Gas 5.

Put your onions in one layer into an oven dish.

Line the dish with baking paper, as the sauce will caramelise, which otherwise would make it quite a pain to clean.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and sauté the celery over medium heat until soft, for about 5 minutes. If you're not using any celery, just start with the next step, but shorten the frying time to two minutes. (I never use the celery as it isn't on my list of favourite vegetables.)

Add the garlic and sauté for a further five minutes.

Remove from the heat and add all the other ingredients, apart from the onions and stir until the sugar has dissolved.

Season liberally with salt and pepper and pour the mixture over the onions.

Mix well until all the onions are coated evenly.

Place in your oven and roast for about one hour, stirring once halfway through.

The onions are done, when they are soft and caramelised, start checking after 45 minutes. The time depends a bit on their size.

21 comments:

Abitofafoodie said...

These look truly delicious and would be great alonside all kinds of dishes. I'd love them with a nice bit of steak.

Alex said...

Wow, they look great. And that was a bargain flight!

Jules said...

These sound delicious and I imagine they would go well with beef. That is a bargain ticket, I've paid a great deal more to fly to Berlin in the summer!

thepassionatecook said...

that sounds lovely! being austrian, i practically grew up on onions... but these sound most delicious and will have to be tried, of course!

Gloria Baker said...

I love onions and these look so tasty and nice!!! xGloria

Deborah said...

We are onion lovers at my house, so I'm sure we'd love this one!

Jan said...

A bargain flight Sylvie! LOVE the onions and your pictures are excellent!

sangeeta said...

these are really packed with flavors.....picture is great.

The Curious Cat said...

What do you like to eat these with ideally? xxx

♥Rosie♥ said...

Delicious Sylvie! Have a lovely break in beautiful Yorkshire :0)

Rosie x

Sylvie said...

Antonia, they are great with steak and chunky chips.

Alex, yes that was the best flight deal I ever got. I wasn't allowed to take any luggage apart from cabin luggage, but I didn't need anymore for a weekend anyways.

Jules, this was Manchester to Dusseldorf Weeze. We paid much more to go to Berlin earlier in the year to. Cheapest for that i could find was with EasyJet from Liverpool for about £70.00.

Thepassionatecook, if you like onions I'm sure you'll like these.

Gloria, thanks.

Deborah, I'm sure you wouldn't be disappointed.

Jan, thanks.

Sangeeta, you're right all the flavours work together really well, but you don't loose the onion in it.

The Curious Cat, I love these with steak or roast beef, but they go well with all sorts. I've also added them to vegetable couscous before.

Sylvie said...

Rosie, you posted while I was writing. Thank you. I'm spending some time at a friend's house, so I'm sure it'll be a good weekend.

pigpigscorner said...

Perfect with grilled meat!

Sam said...

I love onions cooked in this way, they look amazing!

Hopie said...

I'm a big fan of slow-cooked or roasted onions! These look delicious ;-)

Anonymous said...

Sylvie, those onions look great! I imagine they'd go great w/ a roast or chicken. MMMMM! Glad you got to visit Germany on that cheap, what a great deal!

chow and chatter said...

nice blog an love the name, I am a Brit and I love Germany Rebecca

aforkfulofspaghetti said...

YUMMY! Roasted onions are a bit of a favourite with me. My local deli/cafe does them with pimento peppers, chickpeas, and wilted spinach - and a glug of very lovely olive oil to finish. Irresistible!

Marie Rayner said...

Wow, look at the caramelization on those onions! They look fabulous!

Lia "online learning" Scott said...

Roasted onions.. looks so delicious

Michael Courses said...

Great blog and a great read! Thank you.