Caramelized Onions: the Lord Byron of Savory Foods

I've had a crappy day. But even as I write this, I feel better (even if it's temporary). Why? Because just thinking about food makes me happy. Like Keri Russel's character showed in Waitress, food is therapy - and making recipes? That's taking control of your own destiny.

As you may have noticed, things around here are looking different. I've changed my blog's name to Caramel Onion, and I'd like to detail a few reasons why:

1) the old name was lame

2) I've always hated onions, so I guess you could say I'm forcing myself to "know thine enemy"

3) caramelized onions are one of the greatest inventions in the history of food

4) onions are a metaphor. Like Shrek said: they have layers.

To honor the new name, I'm dedicating this post to caramelized onions. First, a few things you should know about them:

They're extremely easy to make.

They're the best of both worlds: still that savory onion flavor, but drastically tempered and sweetened into a taste and texture that even onion-haters (like me) can't resist.

Drastically reduces risk of halitosis, which is one of the reasons I'm normally so wary of onions. Caramelizing basically does the same thing for onions that roasting does for garlic: it removes both bite and horrible post-meal breath. Btw, roasting garlic changed my life; it's the secret to perfect garlic mashed potatoes AND garlic bread.

They can be used to add elegance and sophistication to almost anything. See my list below.

The recipe:

2 large white or yellow onions, sliced and quartered (or left as whole circles, if you prefer)

1/4 cup butter

3 Tbsp. sugar

This is so easy. Warm butter in a saucepan, then throw in the onions. Sautee them at low medium heat, stirring every 2-4 minutes for at least 15 minutes, or until onions begin to soften and change color. Add the sugar and more butter if necessary, and sautee for another 10 minutes, until onions are (surprise!) caramel in color.

Eat! Here are a few of the many ways to use caramelized onions:

- on toast, garlic bread or focaccia bread

- in casseroles

- sauteed with mushrooms and heaped on steak (excellent with venison)

- pizza topping

- heaped on roast lamb, pork or beef (always with rosemary and more butter)

- in tarts (wrap puff pastry around a few oz. of cream cheese and a sprinkling of caramelized onions and bake for 20-30 minutes for a divine breakfast treat)

- in pasta salads

- eat them plain! (I was going to make tarts out of mine, but they magically disappeared after Reagan taste-tested them)

The sky is the limit!

Thanks for stopping by. I've got a lot of great recipes in my head (and photo file), so come by again soon.