Caramelized Onion Gravy

Three pounds of yellow onions really break down to be not too much after 1.5 hours of caramelization. But, all that time spent stirring and checking on them is worth it. Trust me.

Every year for my Thanksgiving gravy base, I hang by the stove, diligently stirring a pot of gold.  The onions will turn into a beautiful pot of gold if done correctly, and it takes so much time, this pot is as valuable, time-wise, as a pot of gold.  I suggest you give it a try.  You can also scale this down for smaller meals and use it as your secret weapon gravy base.

This year I started with 3 pounds of thinly sliced locally grown Colorado sweet yellow onions. I put them in a 4 quart stock pot, knowing they’d end up as a splash in the pan once caramelization took over.  Start with the heat up at medium-high and add two sticks of butter.  Let this start to sizzle. You want to hear it doing something.

Give it a stir every few minutes and let the butter melt. Then, turn down the heat to medium and keep coming back and stirring… and stirring… and stirring.

This is going to take some time, so plan to spend over an hour in the kitchen. Multi-task if you can because it really is a long time to spend looking over one single pot.

There eventually comes a time I call a “crucial moment” in the caramelization process because if you get bored and leave, your onions are going to burn. Trust me. As they turn into golden brown deliciousness, start stirring them more frequently. They’ll eventually be a gorgeous pot of gold. So get them off the heat.

Next, stir in 1/4 cup honey, 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, a couple teaspoons of fresh thyme and a teaspoon of minced fresh rosemary.  Mix everything really well and taste it to be sure the vinegar cuts through the fat from the butter. You might find that it needs a little more vinegar and a dash of salt.  But, remember that this is just the base for your gravy, so all of those flavorful pan drippings are going to add a rich complexity to this somewhat straightforward caramelized onion base. This can be made in advance, refrigerated, and put on the stove with pan drippings when you’re getting ready to serve the bird.

Enjoy in moderation!

Panko-Crusted Goat Cheese Sandwich

This was a really easy open-faced sandwich that I’ll likely start making somewhat frequently.

First, make some Cashew Pesto and spend the 30-40 minutes to caramelized a cipollini onion. Then, slice some goat cheese 1/3 inch thick. I had a log of Haystack Mountain Dairy’s Boulder Chevre, which I LOVE! Dunk the pieces in heavy whipping cream, roll them in panko, and bake on a parchment lined baking tray at 300 for 15 minutes of so. Flip once. You can bring them to the broiler for browning if you’d like.
Toast some bread- I had a ciabatta roll that I toasted. Then spread some cashew pesto, add sliced tomatoes, caramelized onions, and panko-crusted goat cheese.
Yum!

Caramelized Onion Avocado Spread

I absolutely love caramelized onions. This spread is super fast to make- that is- once you spend the 40 minutes or so caramelizing an onion. If you’ve never caramelized an onion, refer to my caramelized cipollini onion recipe for the basics. For this particular spread, I used peanut oil rather than butter or olive oil.
First, caramelize one yellow onion. Put half of the golden goodness into a food processor with 1/2 avocado, juice from 1/2 lime, 1.5 TB German mustard, 2 TB honey, and a pinch of sea salt. Puree until smooth.

I spread this on my Sweet Potato Black Bean Burger. Yum. Enjoy!

Halibut with Caramelized Onions, Sauteed Tree Oyster Mushrooms, Grilled Radicchio, Zucchini, and Pepper

It all started with some mushrooms. My friend Chad from Hazel Dell suggested I try these tree oyster mushrooms last week at the Boulder Farmers Market, so I had to figure out what to do with them.

Also, I had a beautiful head of radicchio from Ollin Farms, which was an ingredient in my CSA Challenge. I knew I wanted to grill it, which is easy. Just slice it, drizzle with olive oil and sea salt, and grill for a few minutes. Turns out great.
Then we decided to buy some halibut. Now I knew what to do with my meal. Halibut with caramelized onions, grilled radicchio, zucchini, and yellow pepper, and sauteed tree oyster mushrooms. A perfect combination.
It is easy to caramelize onions. It just takes a little while, so that usually needs to be done first. I had a beautiful little walla-walla onion from the market, so I sliced it and added it to a hot saute pan with a little olive oil and let that start to turn golden brown. You need to watch your onions and turn down the heat if they start to burn. The idea is to let them slowly release their sugars and caramelize into sweet, delicious, heavenly-brown goodness.

As I said before, the radicchio and veggies were grilled. I baked the halibut with a little olive oil at 350 until is was just cooked through. All ovens are a little different, so watch your fish. Mine took 15 minutes or so.
Meanwhile, a mushroom saute with a little butter, olive oil, shallots, sea salt and pepper was under way. Nothing too fancy because all of my produce came from local farms, so it was all super fresh and delicious.
I definitely enjoyed this one!

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A Bolder Table is a place where I bookmark my favorite recipes for later along with some occasional musings. It's my personal digital recipe compilation... Let's say it's my cookbook. Thanks for stopping by! -Megan
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