Can onions be adorable? Cipollini can!

Italians love a good appetizer. (I think I should have been born part Italian.) There are many restaurants and wine bars in Italy where one can make a meal from the appetizer bar. “Appetizer bar?” you ask. Yes….isn’t that a wonderful concept? Italians are of a mind that wine should be consumed with food, an idea I whole-heartedly agree with. When you order a glass of wine, it almost always comes with something to nibble on. Maybe it’s just potato chips or olives; sometimes it will be adorable little pizzette (half dollar sized baby pizza!). But often times, for an extremely reasonable price, you can visit the appetizer bar, where there’s a little smorgasbord of delights. A taste of this, a bite of that, oooh and a spoonful of this and……..a lovely glass of Italian red wine.

One of the things that can often be found at an appetizer bar are sweet and sour onions. These are not just any onions, but adorable baby cipollini onions cooked down with vinegar and sugar; a method of cooking called agrodolce (which basically means sweet and sour). There are many recipes out there requiring various amounts of cooking time, using different types of vinegar and different types of onions. This recipe is a very simple way to make them thanks to Mario Batali. In a previous blog post I gave you a recipe for Thelma’s Roasted Red Peppers. These cipollini would be a great accompaniment to that recipe along with a bowl of olives for the makings of an at-home appetizer bar, along with……………. a lovely glass of Italian red wine.


Here’s your list of ingredients:
Adorable baby cipollini (about 20 of them)
Olive oil
2 bay leaves
1 T. sugar
2 T. red wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

---

Bring a pot of water to boil while we start prepping the onions.  Cipollini onions are small and quite flat compared to regular onions.  Simply trim off the root and stem ends.  Don’t bother to peel them.

When the water comes to a raging boil, toss in the unpeeled, trimmed onions.  Boil them for about 7 minutes.

While the onions are cooking, stir the sugar and red wine vinegar together in a small bowl to completely dissolve the sugar. Set aside.

After 7-8 minutes, drain the onions in a colander and as soon as they are cool enough to handle, peel away the skins.  If you find that the center little “nubbins” of some of the onions have fallen out, be sure to save them; they are especially tender….like chicken dimples.

Heat a good, healthy drizzle of olive oil in a deep saucepot (I use the same pot I just boiled my onions in.)  and add the 2 bay leaves.  When the oil is nice and warm, toss in the cooked, peeled, still-warm onions.  Turn the heat up a bit and give everything a good stir to coat the onions with the oil.  Very shortly, they will begin to brown.  Now things are smelling lovely, aren’t they?

When the onions have become nice and browned, pour in the vinegar/sugar mixture.  Stand back a bit, as it tends to sputter and bubble up.  Very quickly now, the mixture will become dark brown, and syrupy and deliciously gooey.  Make sure all the onions get a nice coating of syrupy vinegar, but don’t let the mixture burn.

That’s it…..all done!  You now have a delicious little appetizer.  I served these onions on top of homemade hummus atop little toast rounds recently and they were delicious.  They were equally delicious when I served the leftovers as a side dish to a small steak. I actually recommend you make a double batch because by the time you're done popping "a few" into your mouth, you won't have many left for your appetizer bar. They are amazing while they are still warm.  Buon Appetito!

Isn’t an appetizer bar a lovely idea?  Come to Rome with me and let’s go to one together! Booking now for  Late spring/early summer and October 2013!

---