Find your Caramelized Onion Zen

Caramelized onions are bliss.

Making them is not.

It takes one long torturous hour.

Do not be tempted to turn your heat up to high.

Your onions will burn.

Do not walk away from the stove to put a load of laundry, or feed he fish, or wash the dishes.

Don’t daydream.

An hour is a blessed eternal long time to stand in front of the stove. So get a stool and sit.

Dig your heels in; find your inner Zen or whatever, just don’t get so lost in your thoughts that you forget to turn the onions every couple of minutes during that hour.

An almost homogenized, glossy, melting mess of sweetness will be your reward.

So tell me what do you do with your caramelized onions?

Sometimes I make these fabulous Texas Steakhouse Hot Dogs but check back with me next week to see what I did with this batch of crave worthy, sweet, onion relish.

Caramelized Onions
Quantities depend on how the amount of caramelized onions you wish to make. Average two large onions per person because the onions reduce a lot when cooked. If I'm coming to dinner I suggest you average four onions:-)Some recipes add a bit of butter and some use sugar. Cooking the onions releases the natural sugars in the onions so I opt not to add additional sugar.

TIP: To chop onions without the tears, chill them for 10 to 15 mins in the freezer before chopping.

Ingredients
Several medium or large onions
Canola oil
Salt to taste

Method

Peel and chop the onions. You can cut the onions in half. Lay them cut side down and slice the onions lengthwise to desired thickness. I find it's quicker to just chop the root and top end off then slice into rings.

Use a wide, heavy duty sauté pan. Too thin a pan will cause the onions to burn. Coat the bottom of the pan with oil, or a mixture of oil and butter. Heat the pan on medium high heat. Add the onion slices and stir to coat the onions with the oil. Spread the onions out evenly over the pan and let cook, stirring occasionally. After 10 minutes, sprinkle some salt over the onions.

Let cook for 40 minutes to an hour more, stirring every few minutes. Let the onions brown a little and then turn. You have to let them brown enough before turning but not so much that the burn. You may want to turn the temperature down a little if your pan is not thick enough and you find your onions are almost burning. Cook until the onions are a lovely brown colour. The caramelized onions can be stored in several days in an air-tight container in your refrigerator.