Caramelized Red Onion Chutney

[jdtofbna]

Some visiting English friends brought me a jar of the most wonderful caramelized red onion chutney with rosemary---fabulous with pork, lamb, or as an accompaniment to cheeses. Sadly, I have emptied the jar, won't be going back to England until later in the year, and can't find it online anywhere. Anyone out there have a recipe? Thanks!

[amapola]

A recipe I often make is not with red onions and rosemary but it can easily be adapted to suit your taste. I'm also not sure wether to call it chutney or not, but it's indeed good with meat and cheeses so it might be along the lines of what you are looking for.

Take a couple of large onions and slice them finely. Since the onions will lose most of their water and therefore reduce immensly in volume, make sure to start off with plenty raw onions. Put them in a large, heavy based pan with some olive oil, thyme (or rosemary, in your case), a good glug of sherry (port or red wine could also work fine), a little brown sugar, salt and pepper to taste and just a splash of balsamic vinegar. Then give it all a good stir and then put it on a very, very low heat for the rest of the day, lid on, stirring occasionally. It really needs at least 6 hours but 8 are better, if you have the patience. (putting the pan in a low oven for 6-8 hours will also do the trick.) If at the end of the cooking time the mixture seems too moist, simply leave the lid off and cook until you reach the desired consistency.

As the hours pass, you'll see the onions turn golden, then beige and finally a deep, dark brown. Their flavour changes accordingly, the darker the onions, the deeper and sweeter their flavour.

Put in clean jars, once opened it will keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge.

Edited January 22, 2007 by amapola (log)

[Dave Hatfield]

A google search brings up many many red onion chutney recipes.

Also, You can look at this one on Delia Smith's site, page 2 has a red onion chutney recipe. Not exactly the one you are looking for, but can be adapted.

[jdtofbna]

Thanks for both suggestions. I've done an extensive google search and still haven't come up with anything that totally satisfies me, that's why I thought I'd ask the eGulleteers. I have written down the ingredients on the label and hope that I can draw on my experience of making mango chutney quite often, and come up with something comparable. Still open to any and all ideas! thanks

Jana