Onion preserves

This was a lazy, reading and cooking kind of weekend. Yesterday I made a big batch of onion "confit," basically a preserve of very slow cooked onions, resulting in a thick, jamlike essense of caramelized onion that makes a very nice condiment for many things. It cooks for a whole day, but the amount of hands-on attention required is fairly minimal. Six large white onions yielded just under a quart of confit. I started in the early afternoon, and took:

6 large onions, quartered and sliced
4 bay leaves
a teaspoon or two of dried thyme
ground black pepper


and sautéed them over a medium-low flame in about 3/4 cup, combined, of butter and olive oil, stirring occasionally.



After that had cooked for about twenty minutes and given up lots of juices, I stirred in a couple of tablespoons of some storebought vegetable demiglace I had around and simmered everything for about ten minutes more. Then the lid went on and everything went into the oven at 200 degrees to cook until the next day. After about six hours, I checked on it, found it distinctly soupy, and decided to uncover the pot partially. That worked fairly well -- I think next time I might even just leave the lid off the whole time. It was ready in time for a lateish breakfast, as seen above.

Tonight, we'll be having some more with runny cheese, crackers, and a salad. I could see this becoming a staple. Maybe someday I could be generous enough to make a couple of batches in a row and dole it out in properly canned pint helpings, as gifts for Very Good People who like their onions.

I'm also thinking that it would be really good with a crumbly cheese of some sort and pears, for some reason. I haven't had a nice pear in ages, and it's not really the season for them, but my brain is crying out, "Eat this with a pear!" so I may see what I can do.

Comments

[Anna]

I had something like this on a bean salad in Barcelona-- beautifully cooked white and brown and garbanzo beans tossed with a vinaigrette and topped with onion confit. It was dreamy. I've been meaning to try and duplicate it for, oh, about a year now, so maybe with your handy recipe I finally will.

[Robert]

Glad you guys are back.

I do a similar dish on the stovetop that takes around 2 hours, I think. I use shallots, though you could just as easily use onions. I just saute sliced shallots in butter, then cook them very slowly with a bit of sugar, red wine, and thyme until they get the consistency I want.

[redfox]

Mm, that bean salad does sound delicious. I will have to try it. Do you remember whether it was a garlicky kind of vinaigrette?

Shallots sound lovely too (though more more expensive!) and I have been thinking that the next batch I make will be a quicker stovetop version, for the sake of comparison. Either way, adding some red wine seems like a good idea, and since we usually have some around, there's no reason not to try it.

[Anna]

I remember the vinaigrette as being mild and herby--not too assertive. So if there was garlic, there wasn't a lot. If I make a tasty version, I'll pass on the details.

[redfox]

Please do! I look forward to it.