Time: Can Never Save Enough
In this series, I will be featuring different recipes that all have one thing in common: they taste just as good coming’ out of the freezer as they did goin’ in. Well, I mean, defrosted and reheated of course…
There’s just not enough time in the day, amirite?! Sometimes I come home and all I want is something absolutely delicious that takes almost no time to make. Okay, I want that all the time. Is that so much to ask?!
Thus, I present to you: The Freezable Series.
The series will feature different meals or sides that can be easily made in large batches and frozen. Oh, and they all have to be friggin’ delicious…
Which brings us to our first freezable item: caramelized onions!
Ah yes, the onion. What a magnificent vegetable. Can be prepared and enjoyed in so many different ways. Whether raw or cooked, I enjoy all onion preparations. But, I have to say a good caramelized onion takes the cake.
Caramelized onions are easy to prepare and even easier to consume. They can top a sandwich, pizza, salads, steaks, BURGERS! Oh my, this is getting me going…hm, maybe it’s the bottle of cabernet I’ve drank…
Alright let’s get going here, I’ve already been talking too much…
The Prep:
Let me begin by saying, this is not a quick process–easy, yes–but to truly caramelize something, it takes time for the sugars to break down. Try to rush them and your onions will quickly burn. Now while I like a good char, you’re still looking at about 30 minutes before they’re tasting good.
Cut your onions:
The first step, is to obviously, slice your onions. I use yellow onions, but I suppose any onion will do. Cut the ends off your onion then cut in half lengthwise (root to tip). Start slicing the onion, again from root to tip, into slices a little over 1/8 inch thick. Think 3 quarters stacked on top of each other.
Next, put a mixture of both butter and oil into your pan. Oil has a higher heating point than butter, so it does not burn as quickly. But, as I’m sure you know, butter is freakin’ delicious. So a mix, totaling about 1 tablespoon per large onion, is ideal.
The Cooking:
Heat the butter and oil in the pan, over medium heat and add those beautiful sliced onions.
Vic Trick: do not overcrowd the pan or else the onions will steam and cook unevenly.
Then it is time to sit back and let those onions cook down to sweet deliciousness. Stir the onions every 5-10 minutes or so and cook until your onions reach your desired level of doneness. Check out my results below:
Now, I like my caramelized onions to still have a little crunch to them. I can’t stand mushy food, so it’s important to keep an eye on the onions, as they can cross the line into mushy very quickly.
Once the onions have reached your desired state of doneness, it is time for the fun part, deglazing the pan!
Deglazing the pan simply means using a liquid to help loosen up those bits that get stuck to the bottom of the pan during the cooking process. This is referred to by the French as “fond.” And I am quite fond of it indeed ;).
I used red wine to deglaze my onions, but you can use any wine, beer, broth, balsamic vinegar, or even water.
Pour in your liquid and use it to scrape up the bits that are stuck to the bottom.
THIS IS WHERE YOU SHOULD SALT AND PEPPER AND TASTE!
Congratulations! You made delicious caramelized onions that can be ready whenever you want them!
The (Un)/Freezing:
From here, wait for the onions to cool (after eating a few handfuls, of course), and separate them into single servings in freezer-safe plastic bags.
To defrost them, you can submerge the sealed plastic bag in a pot of hot water or remove from the bag and heat in a skillet.
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Stay tuned for some exciting recipes, incorporating the caramelized onions, coming soon!
Happy eating!
