A while back I gave you roasted tomatoes. Now, I present you with roasted onions! My friend and I were shopping the other day and found sweet Italian onions available. These are seasonal, and we find them here between the beginning of spring and the end of summer… I love them, because they’re so firm, stuctured so beautifully, and are juicy and sweet without that overpowering onionny teary-eyed stink. They also roast perfectly, layer upon layer, and the entire house smells like a sweet-savory heaven.
This recipe is super-simple, and requires minimal ingredients including light soy sauce and balsamic vinegar — which, combined, are a match made in culinary heaven. In less than half an hour, all the ingredients infuse and give you succulent onion halves, layered so perfectly that you can pop on your dishes as a garnish (though they're too tasty to be just a garnish, honestly!) a side dish, or just enjoy solitarily with anything else. I personally devoured my onion-half last night with stir-fried cubed chicken breasts, served on a giant kale-leaf.
Did I mention the entire house smelled like a sweet-savory heaven? :)
Ingredients:
2 large sweet Italian onions, peeled and halved
Salt and pepper to taste
Garlic powder
4 teaspoons light soy sauce
Balsamic vinegar to drizzle
Method:
Place the onions cut-side-up in a pyrex or terra-cotta oven dish
Season with salt and pepper
sprinkle generously with garlic powder
carefully pour 1 teaspoon each of soy sauce evenly onto each of the onion halves
Cover dish with foil and bake for 20-30 minutes until tender
Uncover, and leave under the broiler for an additional 5 to 8 minutes until golden
Serve drizzled with balsamic vinegar, or brushed on with a pastry brush.