Mulled Lime-Pickled Onions

You've heard of mulling spices, right? You can make your own mix, but I got some from Frieda's Specialty Produce that's really good - and convenient. I used to be opposed to spice mixes, but lately I've realized that they're really handy to have on hand. Instead of pulling out 8 bottles of spices, I can just grab one jar.

So, anyway, my neighbor had just given me a whole bunch of limes. My first thought was that I wanted to make some lime-pickled red onions. They're one of my favorite things. I put them on tacos, salads, and sandwiches. So darned good.

Usually I make my pickled onions very plain - lime juice, a tiny bit of salt, and red onions. And that's it. But I couldn't get it out of my head that I should try the onions with mulling spices. So I did. And they were really good.

The only thing I'd do different next time is wrap the spices in cheesecloth or put them in one of these so I didn't have to pick the spices out of the onions in the bottom of the jar.

Lime Pickled Onions with Mulling Spices

2 tablespoons mulling spices
1/2 teaspoon salt
Red onions, sliced, to fill a quart jar
Lime juice, to fill jar full of onions

Put the mulling spices in a quart jar (wrap in cheesecloth, if you like) and add the salt. Pack the sliced red onions in the jar. The more you can jam in there, the less lime juice you'll need to fill the jar.

Fill the jar with lime juice. Cover the jar and refrigerate. The onions are ready when they're an even bright pink color. It usually takes 2-3 days. Serve as desired.

I receive products from Frieda's for use on my blog; you can find their products at your local grocery store.

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Italian Sausage Sandwiches with Honey Balsamic Glazed Onions

I love Italian sausage, if it's the right kind. As an ex-Chicagoan, I want fennel seeds in my "sweet" Italian sausage.

It's not really sweet, like sugar, but the sweet designation lets you know that it's not hot sausage. Which is fine for some things. But not for my sausage sandwiches, or on pizza.

And, if you're from Chicago, you know at least one person who pronounces sausage as sah-sidge. If they're really hard-core, you might even hear about the ever-so-popular sah-sidge sangwidge.

Yes, I'm serious.

This isn't the traditional Italian sausage sandwich, though. Oh, it's got the traditional peppers and tomato sauce. But the secret ingredient this time is the honey balsamic glazed onions. They add a sweet-tart flavor that really complements the sausage and peppers.

The onions cook down a lot, and they might just become your new favorite condiment, so consider making extras for burgers, hot dogs, pizza, and panini sandwiches. I had to stop myself from "sampling" the onions until they disappeared. They're insanely good.

The vinegar came from Honey Ridge Farms, courtesy of the blog group 37 Cooks, where we cook up challenge recipes using fun ingredients.

Italian Sausage Sandwiches 
with Honey Balsamic Glazed Onions

For the onions:
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 medium onions, sliced into half-moons
Pinch of salt
Several grinds of black pepper
2 tablespoons Honey Ridge Farms Balsamic Honey Vinegar

For the peppers and sauce:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 green bell pepper, cored and sliced into strips
1 red bell pepper, cored and sliced into strips
1 tablespoon dry oregano
Generous pinch of salt
Several grinds of black pepper
1/4 cup red wine
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce

For the sandwiches:
6 Sweet Italian sausages, grilled or pan-cooked
6 Buns

To make the onions:
Heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan. Add the onions, salt, and pepper. Cook on medium, stirring as needed, until the onions begin to soften. If they start browning, turn the heat down.

Add the balsamic honey vinegar and continue cooking, stirring once in a while, until the liquid is gone.

To make the peppers and sauce:
Heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan on medium heat. Add the peppers, oregano, and salt, and pepper. Cook for a minute or two, then add the wine. Let it come to a simmer, then add the tomato sauce.

Cook, stirring as needed, until the peppers are fork tender, but not mushy - or until they're cooked to your liking. If the sauce reduces too much, add water to keep it saucy.

To make the sandwich:
Put the sausage in the bun. Add the peppers and as much sauce as you like. Top with onions.

You should have enough toppings for at least six sandwiches, but it depends on how much you like the toppings. I've been known to make a sandwich with just the toppings, and maybe a bit of melted cheese inside the bun. Yes, I'm serious.

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Honey Roasted Onions

One of my husband's favorite parts of pot roast or stew is when I include whole onions (or halved, if they're really big) in the stew. They get softer and sweeter and they take on the flavors from the stew.

So when I found a recipe for roasted onions in Tyler Florence's cookbook Tyler Florence's Real Kitchen, I had to give them a try. And then I had to adapt the recipe a bit. Or a lot, actually. His recipe has 1/3 cup honey and 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, and uses red onions. And his cooking instructions are different.

But in any case, the credit for the idea goes to Tyler Florence.

I got the honey from a company called Nazareth Secret, and it's a honey imported from Israel. It's got a nice flavor and good traditions behind it. It might have been better suited for stirring into my tea, or other applications where the honey flavor would have been more prominent. But ... it worked well in cooking too.

Honey Roasted Onions
Recipe adapted from Tyler Florence's Real Kitchen

4-6 large onions
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup Nazareth Secret honey
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
Salt and pepper, to taste.

Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Peel and trim the onions and slice in half through the root end (so the halves stay together).

Line a baking sheet** with aluminum foil for easier cleanup. Chances are there will be some burnt sugar to deal with, and it's easier to toss the foil than scrub the pan.

Combine the oil, honey, thyme, salt, and pepper in a large bowl that will fit your onions as well. If you're not sure how much salt and pepper, use 1/2 teaspoon of salt and three or four grinds of pepper from your mill - or about 1/4 teaspoon.

Whisk to combine, then add the onions and stir them around to coat with the mixture. Place the onions, cut side up, on the prepared pan. Leave the remaining liquid in the bowl - you'll be using that later.

Place the onions in the oven and bake until tender. Depending on the onions, this will take an hour or longer.

BUT ! ! !

After about 30 minutes of baking time, remove the pan from the oven and divide the remaining honey/oil mixture on top of each onion. At this point, the onion layers should be less tight, and the liquid will drizzle into the onions as well as coating the top.

Continue cooking, stopping every 10-15 minutes to scoop up the liquid from the bottom of the pan to drizzle it on top of the onions.

** Now that I've contemplated this a bit, I think a 9x13 baking pan might make more sense than a flat baking sheet. The onions could be cooked, covered, for the first 15-20 minutes to steam them and encourage them to cook faster, then drizzle with the oil/honey mixture and keep cooking, drizzing and basting regularly until the onions are done. Also, since most of the oil/honey drips off the onions right away, so I'm thinking that there's no need to try to coat the onions at all at the beginning - just drizzle some of the mixture on top of the onions at the beginning, and then regularly throughout the cooking time - which should also be shorter if they're cooked covered at first.

If you make these, let me know what you do and how they work for you!

I received the honey from the manufacturer, but I was not required to write about it. The book was part of the Cook My Book group exchange. More about that here.

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Onion and Fennel Rye #TwelveLoaves

#TwelveLoaves May: Onions

The best part about being in food "challenge" groups (and also working with sponsors) is that it often motivates me to make things I might not otherwise think of.

Case in point is this loaf of bread. I mean, I've put onions in bread before. I've put onions in rye bread before.

But since this wasn't just for me, I decided that I'd better twist it a little bit. For some reason, fennel sprang to mind. At first I considered adding the vegetable version of fennel, but then decided to use fennel seeds, in place of the more usual caraway.

The onions I used were the slow-cooker version, so I just grabbed some from the freezer. If you don't happen to have any on hand, you can start with this recipe, or just caramelize some onions on the stove until they're brown and soft.

This bread is soft and very aromatic. It's a little sweet from the onions, with that whiff of licorice-y fennel seed. You want this. You really do.

Onion and Fennel Rye

1 cup water
2 1/4 teaspoons Red Star active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cups bread flour
1 cup dark rye flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup darkly caramelized onions
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons fennel seeds

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Knead until smooth and elastic. (You can also knead by hand, if you like). The dough should be a little wet and sticky, but not sloppy. Depending on how wet your onions were, you might need a tad more flour. But don't get carried away - it's shouldn't be stiff.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm location until doubled in size, about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and sprinkle a baking sheet with cornmeal. Flour your work surface and turn out the dough. Form the dough into your preferred shape - I suggest a log or an oval. Place the loaf on the prepared baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

When the loaf has doubled, slash as desired. Bake at 350 degrees until the loaf is nicely browned and it has reached an interior temperature of 200 degrees.

Let the loaf cool completely on a rack before slicing.

About #TwelveLoaves

The month of April was filled with gorgeous orange breads from #TwelveLoaves, and now for May, we chose onions.

Here are the rules: Choose a recipe including onions (red, white, yellow), scallions (green onions, spring onions); leeks, shallots, garlic, pearl onion, cipollini, chives. Whatever you bake, (yeasted, quick bread, crackers, muffins, braids, flatbreads, etc.) have fun and let’s have a delicious month of bread with onions. Let’s get baking!

If you’d like to add your bread to the collection with the Linky Tool this month, here’s what you need to do!

• When you post your Twelve Loaves bread on your blog, make sure that you mention the Twelve Loaves challenge in your blog post; this helps us to get more members as well as share everyone's posts. Please make sure that your bread is inspired by the theme!
• Please link your post to the linky tool at the bottom of my blog. It must be a bread baked to the Twelve Loaves theme.
• Have your Twelve Loaves bread that you baked this May, 2014, and posted on your blog by May 31, 2014.

#TwelveLoaves is a monthly bread baking party created by Lora from Cake Duchess and runs smoothly with the help of our friend Renee from Magnolia Days.

You can find more onion-inspired goodness at these wonderful blogs:

• Caramelized Leek and Onion Focaccia by Renee at Kudos Kitchen By Renee
• Caramelized Onions Muffins by Kathya at Basic N Delicious
• Caramelized Vidalia Onion Rolls by Lora at Cake Duchess
• Crusty Cheese and Onion Bread by Karen at Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Leek Bread with Red Curry by Rossella at Ma che ti sei mangiato
• Onion and Fennel Rye by Donna at Cookistry
• Onion Cheddar Bread by Dionne at Try Anything Once Culinary
• Onion Rolls by Holly at A Baker's House
• Rustic French Onion Focaccia by Felice at All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Sausage, Onion and Cheese Muffins by Renee at Magnolia Days
• Spicy Onion Paratha by Stacy at Food Lust People Love
• Spinach Onion Braid by Liz at That Skinny Chick Can Bake

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