Tuesday, October 14, 2008

SIDE DISH~ BRUSSELS SPROUTS with BALSAMIC VINEGAR CARAMELIZED ONIONS

This dish is rich, and slightly sweet from the onions, a tiny bite from the cayenne, and lots of delicious caramelizing! It's A-Mazing. 

OK, so I'll admit, my first choice for this dish was not Brussels sprouts. This developed out of necessity, because my original ingredient was sweet peas. But my sweet peas were rotten. Shoot! It was a last minute thing - I looked in the fridge, my choices were broccoli, collard greens, Chinese cabbage, Brussels sprouts and green chard. The best fit I saw, was Brussels sprouts. 

Ingredients:
serves 4

2 large yellow or white onions
2 oz pancetta or bacon
Brussels sprouts for 4 - about 1 lb
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter


To begin, saute the pancetta (or chopped bacon) in the butter and olive oil for 3 minutes.


Add the onion. Reduce to low, and stir frequently. You do not want to brown the onions. You are caramelizing them. Slow cooking. 

Keep stirring ....


Almost there ...


OK, now add the vinegars, salt, pepper, sugar, cayenne and water. Bring to a boil. Cook on medium-high until all liquid is reduced. 


After the liquid was reduced, I moved the onions aside, and I added the bs and sauteed them on med-low until golden.



Serve immediately.