My favorite condiment on a sandwich is a generous portion of caramelized onions. Yesterday I had a wonderful pannini from Avedano's market made from truffled ham, Gruyere, and caramelized onions. Today I decided that I needed to cook some up at home to have on hand for my next sandwich fix - they are relatively easy to make, smell wonderful while cooking, and can be kept in the fridge to be used as needed. I love raw onions but can't always digest them very well - cooking them solves that problem.
I use yellow onions, which I find to be the easiest to work with and the most flavorful.
To yield about 2 cups of caramelized onions, you need 4-5 raw onions. So, first you peel and julienne the onions - I don't really take the time to do this neatly, and they come out as more of a rough elongated chop. My goal in cutting with onions is speed, as the acid in the onions makes me cry like a baby. They sell this awesome product called "Onion Goggles" at Sur la Table, but unfortunately they don't fit over my super-cool glasses, so I chop quickly and suffer a little.
Melt about 2-3 T. of butter in a large pan and turn the heat to Medium, adjusting as necessary throughout the cooking. The key to caramelizing onions is to watch the color. The process will take about 30 minutes all together*
Here they are all white and pristine and slathered in melted butter.
Stir frequently to keep the butter and heat evenly distributed. They will become more translucent and reduce with cooking. The color will start to change after around 15 minutes.
After about 20 - 25 minutes, the sugars will start to break down and they will start to caramelize. The color becomes even more brown and they become very shiny and almost sticky looking. The fragrance is heavenly!
I cook them an additional 5 minutes on lower heat to make sure I get some browned bits in there.
They are now done and ready to eat or cool and be put away. They are sweet, rich, buttery and so delicious! I have to force myself not to shove slippery, gooey handfuls into my mouth. Lovely with a piece of grilled meat, with scrambled eggs, or on a sandwich.
This is the pannini sandwich I made today with ham, white cheddar, and caramelized onions. I can't wait to make another one tomorrow!
*the book I learned from, Charlie Trotter Cooks at Home, said the total cooking time would be 15 -20 minutes. No way. I have read other recipes which have called for a 3-hour cooking time, stirring every 6 minutes. Rediculous! Who has that kind of time? 30 minutes, maybe 40 minutes tops, is all that you will need.
