Oopseridoo - Sweet and sour onions

What's that?
A month without posting?
Where was I?
Erm...
I have been busy?
Oops!


I was actually going to post about these sweet and sour onions, one of my favourite snacks for aperitivo, last Monday, but I got distracted by scenes of London burning and under siege by a minority of criminals and it seemed inappropriate.


Many a post have now been written about that and I will not go into it - I've tired myself for the past week talking about it with friends and family, horrified at people's ignorance and desperately wishing my chest of bad memories of Panamá in the 80s hadn't been praised wide open.


I spent most of my nights last week sleepless, shaking in bed terrified and reaching out for the chef's knife I had placed by my bed at any small sound that would come from my outside my window.


It was like Lord of the Flies had met pre-invasion Panamá - How awesome.


But it's better now. I have put my knife back in its sleeve and in the drawer where it belongs and I have been sleeping fine even though the sound of a police siren still sets me on edge.
I'm sure I'm not the only one.


For distraction purposes I look at the pictures of the book the original recipe for the onions came from.

I guess we could call it "vintage".

Gotta love the image composition, the colours... Is that a big block of cheap-looking chocolate by the smaller jar?!
What the... Why?!


Sweet and Sour Onions


This is the kind of recipe that varies depending on whether you like your food either more sweet or more sour, so feel free to play with the base and add more vinegar or sugar as you see fit halfway through preparation.

1kg mornay onions (peeled of course!)

4tbsp brown sugar

Juice of ½ lemon

1 1/2 cups red wine vinegar

1 1/2 cups white wine

2 cloves

½ cinnamon stick

1 bay leaf

30gr butter

1tbsp olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Put the oil, butter and sugar in a frying pan and brown slightly over medium heat.

Add the onions and brown slightly (about 2 minutes) and add all the remaining ingredients.

Turn down the heat to low, cover the pan and let cook for at least half an hour stirring every now and again.

Try the sauce at this point and now would be the time to adjust it if you felt the need to do so.

Keep cooking covered if the onions aren’t soft yet (the last time I did this it took about 45 minutes for them to be at the right point).

If when the onions are done the sauce is still too runny take them out, increase the heat and reduce the sauce.

Add the onions back in, stir, remove from heat and let them cool down.

Serve at room temperature alongside olives, crusty bread, cold meats and… Well, wine!