What Does Carmelized Onions Even Mean?

This isn't really a recipe post-more of a technique post. When you cook onions, I'm sure you've noticed that often times recipes say something like, "saute onions until they become transleuscent," or "until they soften," etc. When prepared this way, onions (I'm mostly talking about yellow/white ones) retain their savory oniony flavor and texture.

But, if you cook them on med-high heat with a few pads of butter (works better than oil), and allow them to do their thing by moving past the transleuscent phase, they start to carmelize. And this means exactly what is sounds like: when cooked for a while in butter, the sugars in the onion begin to develop and they get that sweet taste and melt-in-your-mouth texture. Now, when cooking onions in this way, there really isn't a way to ruin them (they can cook forever and just keep getting more and more delicious).

A couple of applications for you:

Add red bell peppers to pan as well and caramelize with onions to make a great side dish, fajita topper, or steak accoutrement.



 


Serve with Zoe's Cole Slaw (another post) and grilled chicken.












 

Roasted Corn off the Cob

My husband LOVES corn on the cob. While I do like corn, the whole cobb thing is not for me. So...I prepare corn on the cob for him next to this recipe for me...same temp, same time, everyone's happy!

Ingredients:
Corn on the cob (average 1-2 per person)
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt/Pepper
Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put corn stalks (already shucked) in a bowl. Using a sharp knife, cut kernals off cob and into the bowl. Toss kernals with oil, a pinch of salt, and a pinch of pepper. Spread onto a baking sheet. Roast for 20ish minutes, tossing kernals a couple of times during cooking. After about 20 minutes, toss kernals with some parmesan cheese and put back in the oven for a few more minutes. Corn is done when kernals are caramelized around the edges. YUM!

Other uses/ideas:
Skip the parmesan and after roasting, put corn in bowl with black beans and avocado with a dash of balsamic (variation of my black bean corn salsa).

Use corn for topping tacos.

Mix cooked corn with softened cream cheese, and a bit of salsa to make a creamy corn side dish.