Confiture d’Oignons (onion jam)

This is a great way to jazz up a cheese board. Perfect for dinner parties because you can make- and it keeps- so you will have on hand for a long time. I also have in my Ireland class notes that it is good with duck, steak and lamb chops. I’ve been eating it with leftover roast chicken etc. Pardon the wonky amounts- that’s conversion for you. The thing about this recipe though- is I took some major liberties- guessing on how many onions- I didn’t have sherry vinegar or cassis. And it really didn’t matter- jam is a pretty loosey goosey thing- I fudged it- and it was all OK.

Works very well w. a nice cheddar. I know you say- cheddar? nice? but there is cheddar and there is cheddar- as I learned from a recent trip to Formaggio. I asked for something that would blow my mind/tastebuds. The guy gave me a cheddar- and i was doubtful. But man, did it.

I made the crackers in this pic too- will have to retry the recipe w. US measurements and post.

A Ballymaloe/Darina Allen recipe

1 1/2 pounds onions

3/4 stick of butter (6 tablespoons)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

5 oz (150g) ~ 2/3 cup caster sugar (i pulsed regular granulated sugar in a coffee grinder but i think it would be fine without doing that)

8 tablespoons plus 3 teaspoons sherry vinegar (i had no sherry vinegar or red wine- which would have been the first substitute. I used white wine vinegar and then used actual sherry instead of cassis- to get in some sherry flavor)

9 oz (250ml/ 1 1/8 cups) full bodied red wine

2 tablespoons + 2 tsp cassis

Peel and slice the onions thinly (i actually brought my mandolin out- after the gingerale finger slicing incident). Melt the butter in the saucepan on med heat until it becomes a deep nut brown- be careful not to let it burn- but this gives it tons of flavor. Toss in the onions and sugar, add salt and pepper and stir well. Cover the saucepan and cook for 30 minutes over a gentle heat, keeping an eye on the onions and stirring from time to time with a wooden spatula.

Add the sherry vinegar, wine and cassis. Cook for a further 30 minutes, uncovered, stirring regularly. the onion jam must cook gently and don’t let it reduce too much. (i wasn’t sure i used enough onions so kept cooking for an extra 15 mins. still looked pretty thin liquidy in the end- but turns out it doesn’t matter). Put in jar, cover overnight in fridge- and it comes into the right consistency. Skim the butter that collects at top and discard.

Keeps for months. good w. pâtes, terrines of meat, game and poultry.