Caramelized Onions!

Caramelized onions add amazing flavor to meals of all kinds. They can be used to bump up a frozen pizza or a take-out burger, and they can take homemade meals from good to great. Not much is needed to get your onions wonderfully brown-- the most important ingredient is patience. I always use the white or brown skin onions for caramelizing, but if you are a red onion fiend, go ahead and try it. This is also a great way to prepare leeks or shallots; use either in the same way you'd use an onion.

The Process

Cut an onion or two into thin-to-medium slices. This may seem like way too much onion, but the onion cooks down a lot during the saute. When I cut onions, I like to cut in half around the "equator," then put the cut end down on my cutting board. I'll then slice into my desired thickness. I think this results in a prettier sliced onion. Set your burner to medium-low, and pour a tablespoon of olive oil per onion into a non-stick pan. Add a tablespoon of butter in there if you want. Adding the butter makes the flavor even better, but is not necessary to make your onions delicious.

Use a wooden spoon to stir the onions every five or ten minutes. While the onion is slowly browning, your house will smell amazing, and you've got plenty of time to get other parts of dinner ready. After 15-20 minutes, your onions will look like this:

Have patience! After around 35 minutes, your onions will look and smell amazing, but keep waiting, and keep your burner on medium-low.

Remove your onions from the burner after 45 minutes. If you have more patience than I do, you can continue to saute for closer to 60 minutes and you'll have a bit more brown than I've got here, but I usually am too hungry to wait that long.

Eat it! I use caramelized onions in eggs, pizzas, burritos, onion dip, grilled cheese, salad dressing, and many other dishes, but in our house we most often use these with meat. These are delicious on top of a steak or burger!

If you've got leftovers, these onions freeze well. To use after freezing, add straight to a dish from the freezer, or throw back into your pan with a little oil to brown them up a little more before using as a topping.

WHY I COOK

"Can tonight be Taco Night?" is the first thing my husband says to me when I pick up his call. "I've been thinking about tacos all day."

My husband works at a mentally challenging job, often putting in 10 hours a day. Tacos seems like an easy enough request to fill. "Sure, call me about 30 minutes before you'll be home and I'll have Taco Night ready."

I usually keep taco stuff at the house, because it seems like Phil thinks about tacos every day. As I go through the fridge and pantry to make sure we've got everything we'll need, I find only one ingredient missing-- the taco sauce. I am happy with sauce-less tacos, but it will crush Phil if we don't have any at dinner. I'm in workout clothes and I haven't brushed my hair yet today, but I know I have to make a run to Kroger.

After work, traffic is heavy, the self check-out lane several people deep. I add a Snickers bar to my basket to make up for the inconvenience of having to come to Kroger at 5pm.

He calls while I'm driving home, so I get things going as soon as I return. By the time he walks in, the house is filled with the rich smell of seasoned ground beef and warm refried beans. The lettuce is satisfyingly crisp as I slice through it. With a flourish I pull the taco sauce out of the plastic bag and hand it to Phil. He actually kisses the bottle, opens it, and pours a bit of the tangy, spicy sauce onto a spoon, which goes directly into his mouth. A huge smile breaks across his face. This is why I cook at home, why I ask myself, "What's for dinner tonight?"

I do it for the smile. Well, I like tacos, too.