Caramelized/Smothered Onions

Gator Bait · April 2009

I had a craving for some caramelized/smothered onions. They go with just about everything and I never have any on hand. A trip to Sam's produced a 5 pound bag of Texas 1015 Sweet Onions. I had never experienced Texas 1015's before, now I'm glad I have. Mild, super sweet, no tears, these can be eaten like an apple!
While the BGE came up to about 450* I gave the onions a course chop, 5 pounds of onions filled my 10" cast iron skillet twice or 12 to 16 cups raw. With a little oil and salt and a close eye I cooked them in the covered skillet for about 40 minutes. At that point I could combine them into one pan and cooked them a little longer for some added color.

These are candy!!! I could sit down to a bowl of these by themselves, instead I divided them into small storage tubs and popped them into the freezer.
LOL, out of 12-16 cups of raw onion I ended up with 2.5 cups cooked. :blink: :blink: :blink:
Some of the simple things in life can be sooooo sweet!

Gator

Richard Fl · April 2009

Look great. I sometimes adde a little sugar for the flavor and color toward the end.

Photo Egg · April 2009

Looks great.
Just oil and salt?
Darian

Gunnar · April 2009

No sugar required with these bad boys. The downside is they're only available for a few months of the year.

reelgem · April 2009

I'm like you, I just love the Texas sweets. I'm so mad I was just at Sam's Club yesterday but I didn't go into the produce section. Guess I'll have to make a trip back there and get some. It's too bad they only come around once a year.

Gator Bait · April 2009

Hi Photo Egg

Yup thats it. The oil conducts the heat and a little salt sweats the water out of them. Give them a stir every 5-10 minutes as they cook, as the sugar concentrates in them they are more likely to scorch or burn. Thats why I keep a close eye on them.

Gator

Misippi Egger · April 2009

My Dad (83 yr old) grows these every year. Couldn't get vidalias to grow well here.

He bought 1500 sets this year! Planted about 600 himself and gave the rest to others who ordered with him. He uses raised beds in his garden.

When they are ripe, he dries for a week or so, then individually wraps tightly in 2 layers of HD aluminum foil and places in the crispers of several refrigerators. They still have quality onions into December each year!

Gator Bait · April 2009

600 sets himself! Great, I can understand why. Thanks for the storage tips, I will have to try that. I have read that they can be pealed, sliced and frozen well also. I wish I had a bigger frig, thats one of the reasons I cooked them down, to conserve space and concentrate flavor.

Gator

Gator Bait · April 2009

These are so sweet I have to ration them because of my diabetes.

Gator

reelgem · April 2009

Thanks for that tip. I've heard all different techniques for storing onions and I've tried with vidalias and they kept for a while but not that long. I will give your dad's method a try. Thanks!!

IndependentGrocer · April 2009

Being from Georgia I can't help but say Vidalia's are the best. There are a couple more very good sweet onions that can be found during the winter months. First is a sweet onion from Peru. It will have a Peru sticker on the onion. These are really good. Another, but hard to find sweet onion is the Walla Walla Sweet from Washington state. Only available for about 2 months, try them if you can find them.

Here in Georgia, the Vidalia green onions are already out. OMG! These are awesome! And huge bunches!

Hoss · April 2009

I've had WalaWala and Texas Sweets.Both awesome if you want a sweet onion.I love em both and Vidalias.But sometimes I want a real down home URNYUN!!! :woohoo: :whistle: :evil:

Florida Grillin Girl · April 2009

Gator, today on the Rachel Ray show Rachel made a french onion dip pizza that started out with those carmelized onions you show here. She then added creme frache (or sourcream) place on top of the pizza dough, added 3 cheeses and chopped up fresh thyme. The cheese was gruyere, mozzarella and parmiagiano reggiano.You can also use swiss. WOW did that look good and you are most of the way there with those cooked onions in the freezer!

I'm makin it!

Faith
Tampa, FL

Gator Bait · April 2009

Hi Faith,

Thanks for the heads up. I went out to her web site and found the recipe. That does sound gooood! I have book marked it for future fun. I have yet to cook a pizza on the egg, I have been trying to behave myself and avoid the carbs. LOL, not much chance of that with the caramelized onions in the house (that's why they are in the freezer). I may have to try making that as mini pizzas. Just last night I was doing a little research on sourdough pizza crust, that might be a winning combination!!! I think there might have to be a pizza stone in my future.

Gator

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Caramelized/Smothered Onions

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