I like to keep a variety of onions in our pantry at all times: Vidalia for their sweetness, white for their punchy oniony-ness, shallots for their delicate flavor, and red for their brilliant hue. Thanks to the amazing natural sweetness of Vidalia onions, this particular variety of onions caramelizes very well.

To caramelize anything means just what you think it does; cooking something long enough to where its natural sweetness shines through and the finished product has a lovely, deep brown color.  Think of when you sear a piece of meat in a non-stick pan; if you cook it long enough and over the right heat, you get that tasty brown crust; same with seared scallops, roasted acorn squash, the topping on a homemade upside down cake….and the list goes on and on.

With my Vidalia onions this week, I decided to make a big batch of caramelized onions cooked low-and-slow in my Dutch oven along with some olive oil, butter, salt, pepper and fresh herbs.  A splash of white wine towards the end to release any brown bits from the pan and voilà: caramelized onions are born.  For this dish, I served some of the onions underneath roasted green beans, along with some mushrooms and some crispy prosciutto chips. Caramelized onions freeze very well, so that next time you are craving a bowl of homemade French Onion Soup, or even a simple side for a roast chicken or stuffing for a pork tenderloin, defrost away and enjoy!

(To view this recipe, click on the blue title of the blog post above*)

Tagged: caramelized onions, cremini mushrooms, green beans, green beans and mushrooms, haricots verts, mushrooms, prosciutto, prosciutto chips, roasted green beans, roasted haricots verts, side dish