Ingredients: Measurments are flexible
- 1 c Pinot Braised Onions
- 3 c diced tomatoes (best if fresh/frozen but ok canned)
- 1 c Marinara Sauce (from a jar)
- 1 Tab sugar
Directions:
- Make the onions the day/week before.
- Place the onions, tomatoes and sugar in a large pot.
- Simmer for about 45 minutes, stir when you think of it.
- Check for flavor – does it need salt? garlic?
- Check for consistancy – probably needs the Marinara, but does it need some of the juice from the can? Your choice – soopy or stewy.
Serves: 4 lunch, 2 dinner
Source: Cleaning out the freezer
Pinot Braised Onions
Ingredients:
- 3 large sweet onions cut into slivers (about 6 cups)
- 2 Tab olive oil
- 1 Tab butter
- 1 1/2 c pinot noir
- 1 Tab sugar
- 1 tsp grated orange rind
- 1 small cinnamon stick
Directions:
- In a 10-12 inch skillet, on lowest heat, saute the onions, stirring often (About 30 minutes – don’t let them brown).
- Add the pinot noir, sugar, orange rind, and cinnamon stick.
- Continue to cook on low heat until all the liquid is gone and the onion are very soft – about 30 minutes.
- Salt and pepper to taste.
Serves: Makes abut 3 cups.
Source: Annett Martin
Baked Caramelized Onions
Ingredients:
- 5 # yellow (brown-skin) onions
- ¼ c vegetable oil
- 1 Tab salt
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400°.
- Cut off the stem and root ends of the onions, then halve then lengthwise, and peel away the dried brown skin.
- Cut the onions into 1/4-inch slices. It is important to have all the onion slices roughly the same size so they cook evenly.
- Place all the onion slices in a large, heavy pot or Dutch oven (I like to spray the inside of my pot with non-stick vegetable spray).
- At this point, your pot will be full of sliced onions, but the onions will wilt and shrink dramatically during the cooking process.
- Toss the sliced onions with the vegetable oil and salt to help draw out the moisture and to keep them from sticking to the pot.
- Cover the pot and place in the preheated oven.
- Set your timer for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, open the oven, remove the lid, and the stir the onions well (scrape all sides of the pot and make sure you get all the bits and pieces – stir the onions well).
- Cover with lid and return to the oven.
- Repeat this 15 minutes process for approximately 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
- Watch the onions shrink and the color change to a reddish-brown.
- After you reach the 2-hour point, your onions will have almost no water left and will have darkened and taste sweet. NOTE: If you feel you have too much water left in the pot, place the pot back in the oven with no lid for an additional 15 minutes to evaporate the excess water.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or they can be frozen for up to 3 months.
Serves: Makes approximately 2 1/2 cups.
Source: What’s Cooking America
Notes:
Do you love how they never give a consistant measurment of quantity/weight when it comes to vegetables and fruit.
Onions: 1 medium onion = 1/2 cup chopped, 1 # onions = 4-5 medium, 3# bag frozen chopped onions = 12 cups
Tomatoes: 1# = 3-4 medium, 1# diced = 2 1/4 c, tomatoes, canned 35oz = 4 cups undrained, 28oz drained = 3 cups,
Here is what you need to know:
Make the Pinot Braised Onions using either method of cooking. Use any onions you want, even frozen. Set aside 1 cup of the cooked onions for the soup. Save or freeze the rest to have with beef, chicken, greenbeans, spinach, potatoes – whatever. If you leave out the little bit of butter, they will be dairy free. They are delicious!
Tomatoes are another story. You can do it with fresh, but you need to peel them. If you freeeze them the skin slips right off under hot water. (Toss any extra, not-so-good tomatoes in the freezer – as is skin and all) And canned would be just fine, but drain them, saving the juice in case you need it to thin the soup at the end.
Marinara Sauce comes in jars or cans – really!
And everyone with a grandmother who cooked will tell you to add sugar to tomatoes – every time!