Friday, September 2, 2016

Did I Break My Stroller For This?

I had onions on my list when I went to market, and the farmer said laconically, "how manyja want?"  And he handed me a heavy grocery bag full of seconds.  For free.  I had just canned my way through over a bushel of tomatoes and was not looking to preserve something.  I had never dealt with that many onions, some of which were slightly rotting and most had that black stuff which looks like mildew to me.  But I rarely decline FREE.  "Do not resist chances: take them like vitamins" (an internet meme I have pinned to my canning board on Pinterest).

I had a stroller full of market purchases, so I hooked the heavy bag onto the clip on the handle and creaked home.  The stroller collapsed on the porch as I struggled it inside - Phoebe was fine.

In the chaos of getting the perishables into the fridge, Phoebe found the sack of onions on the floor and took several mouthfuls out of an onion before we noticed.  She eats the bits of onion out of her food and says "yum", so I should not have been surprised.  I set aside the nibbled onion with the worst-looking onions.

I googled around until I found an easy onion jam to can.  I used this one.  When I tasted the finished jam, I didn't care for the lemon peel in there.  We'll see - sometimes citrus needs some time in the canning jars to taste right to me (for example, marmalade).


The jam wasn't done cooking down until around 9pm.  All my equipment was on hand due to the bushel of tomatoes, so I turned on the outside light and canned that jam in my canner on the grill burner (I do really wonder what my neighbor the judge thinks of all my machinations as she sits on her side porch in the evenings).

And while I was waiting for the jam to process, I filled up the recently-emptied slow cooker with sliced onions and olive oil to caramelize overnight.  My husband came into the kitchen at 10pm and very nicely got out the other big knife and helped me.  We went to bed with stinging eyes from all those onions, I'm afraid.

The next morning I had to cook and stir the caramelized onions with the lid off a few more hours to get them browner and evaporate some liquid.

I packaged them up for the freezer.  The only ideas I have for them right now are  a caramelized onion pasta sauce from Moosewood, steak toppings, and French onion soup.


And then, my husband looked at the broken stroller and said, oh, that's easy.  He got out his drill and fixed it somehow (Phoebe helped).  I think his drill died a natural death in the process because he told me he found a replacement on ebay.



I still have a number of onions to use up - good thing I signed up for chopped onions for all our Labor Day festivities!

16 comments:

Alica said...

Ahhh...you are ambitious! :) I do like carmelized onions, but to be honest, I don't think I've ever made them. I think I would have said, "thanks!" and used them to enlarge my compost pile! It wouldn't be wasting! ;)

Megan said...

Hooray for free food! You could make (totally unhealthy but delicious) onion dip with those caramelized onions. I make the onion dip from Amy Thielen's Midwestern book about once a year. I'm sure it's googleable. I do love your blog. Thanks for writing and sharing!

Becky said...

Put 'em Up!Fruit has a really great lemon thyme onion jam recipe. I would break a stroller for free food too.

Lisa said...

Oh my gosh - Phoebe eating raw onion! Hysterical!! That caramelizing in the crock pot does sound very interesting.

Anonymous said...

Can't beat free food! My local community garden has apple trees on the perimeter for members to harvest. Yum, just finished making apple butter. I did pay for my plot, so they aren't totally free.

When I get a good sale on onions, I chop them up, saute them and then package for the freezer in meal size portions. I love the ease of not having to saute onions every.single.recipe!
SJ in Vancouver BC

Sarah said...

Another pasta use for caramelized onions: https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/creamy-lemon-linguine-with-caramelized-onion-rainbow-chard-walnuts
My mom shared it with me after she gave the Blue Apron thing a whirl. I use regular ole' linguine instead of fancy freshly made lemon infused, and it still turns out great. Plus, I usually have these ingredients on hand.

AyrieJoyce said...

Still have tomatoes? Scroll about halfway down on this post for instructions on making Fancy Sliced Tomatoes - delicious and salad that keeps for several days. It will use up some of your onions.
http://iwouldstillplantmyappletree.blogspot.com/2013/09/totally-tomatoes.html

jenny_o said...

Between your post and the comments, I am drooling! I love love love onions in everything and had to stop eating them recently as I discovered they are a trigger for my acid reflux ... Enjoy your onion bounty and the fruits of your labours!

e said...

It looks like your handy husband and his intrepid assistant are fixing the stroller, so no harm done!

I'm sure your family will be enjoying the onion bounty all winter. As the wee lass says, 'Yum'!

Anonymous said...

One of my favorite uses for caramelized onions is Smitten Kitchen's French onion tart.

-SMS

Heather said...

We love caramelized onions on homemade pizza. Some pulled pork or chicken with or without BBQ sauce, caramelized onions and sharp cheddar or feta...delicious! I love making huge batches of them and having them in the freezer for whenever! You can also freeze raw, chopped onions, but package well or your entire freezer will smell of them!

Lana said...

Caramelized onions on burgers is divine. Or in omelettes.

Leila said...

This is probably too late now for you, but the other day I realized I had had one of those episodes where you are in the store and are convinced you don't have a certain item... over and over. I had almost 15 lbs of onions! I think it was because my grown kids/families were in and out and I would hate to be out of onions...
So I made a huge batch of caramelized onions. Having a food processor with a good thin slicing blade really helps, obviously. I put about 10 lbs, thinly sliced, into a large pot with oil and butter. It wasn't quite the thing to do, because the liquid got ahead of the browning (you want a lot of surface area, because you don't want the onions to turn to mush! maybe next time batches), but I juggled a bit and let the liquid evaporate...
Anyway, of course it cooks down so so far. Pop the lovely caramelized onions into jars and into the freezer for roasts and curries, and actually wish you had more!

Leila said...

I mean, you made caramelized onions too -- but I did it just straight, no nothing, lots of sauteeing, it was fine :)

Wilde Family said...

Margo, I notice that you freeze things in canning jars. Have you done a post on how to freeze wuth canning jars and not have them break? Even with headspace, the jars will crack at my house. I'd rather not use the plastic.

Margo said...

Wilde family, I've never posted on that, but thanks for the idea!