Onions Happen

So I have been using, and thoroughly enjoying, “Misfits Market” ever since the pandemic started.  Back when I was too scared to venture out into the grocery store, and when the farmer’s markets were closed down, I learned about this site. You get to order veggies and fruits that aren’t “good” enough to be sold in stores. They’re organic. They’re fresh. They cost a fraction of what they’d cost you in the store.

So we get a big box of produce every week from Misfits.

The problem is that you can’t really specify what amount you want. One week I ordered “ginger” and found myself with so much of the delicious root that I know have ginger extract, two growing ginger plants, and two bags of frozen ginger.

An abundance of goodness, right?

Last week I actually entered my local grocery store. I bought some good salad ingredients, including a pretty large red onion.

Which I forgot when the time came to place my Misfits order. The order in which I clicked on “red onion” for this week.  True to it’s magical nature, Misfits sent me FIVE big, sweet, perfect red onions.

Ruh, roh and Yahoo. All at the same time.

Onions won’t last very long in a warm house. They’ll sprout, go soft, get moldy, and generally lose all of their deliciousness in about ten days.

So what was a nice old lady to do?

I decided to cook ’em down, as they say. I put all five of my red onions on the cutting board. I sliced them up, without worrying too much about thickness. I put them into a frying pan with some olive oil. I turned the burner on medium.

I stirred. 

I stirred a little more.

As the onions softened, I added a coating of salt.  Then a bit of black pepper. 

Best part, though? I poured on about a tablespoon of honey.

I stirred some more.

After the onions were all soft and starting to caramelize (you need to know this word. It sound so “chefy”. It just means they got brown on the edges), I added a splash of balsamic vinegar. Then I stirred a whole bunch more as I sipped a glass of wine.

In the end, this is what I had:

 

Yummoh. I had a nice pan full of sweet, a bit spicy, gently oniony goodness. 

I have since eaten this wonderful onion jam, onion compote, onion mix on a cheeseburger, a bean burger, a taco and with grilled cheese.

See?

Ten minutes alone with a vegetable overload, and you can have a fabulous condiment for the next month.

I KNEW you could cook.