My Mom saw this marmalade recipe on an Italian cooking show on the Italian television station RAI and immediately called me translating the recipe from Italian over the phone while she watched, not missing a beat, this is a very common scenario for us. I mean we must talk about food over the phone, she lives in FL while I live in SC, at least 4-5 times a week, not kidding you. So as I thought about this I couldn't help but ask myself, Why do we Italians love food so much? Talking about it, reading about it, writing about it, thinking about it, preparing it.......and most importantly.......eating it, but why? I do know that as Italians we are a sensuous people who enjoy all pleasurable things such as: music, poetry, art......but I would have to say food is always at the top of the list. I can remember landing in Rome and immediately asking my Zio Alfonzo if we could drive by the Roman Colosseum before we headed south to Naples. To which he replied, "Prima si mangi, poi guardiamo." First we eat, then we look. I never did get see the Roman Colosseum......but I did get to eat : )
Ingredients
3 large yellow onions sliced thin (about 1 pound)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup golden raisins
half cinnamon stick or a few shakes of cinnamon
1 bay or sage leaf
1/2 cup white balsamic wine vinegar
Directions
Mix all the ingredients except for the vinegar together and bring to a simmer, cover and simmer for 1 hour. The raisins will plump up from the onion liquid and the onions will become soft and tender. Lift the lid and give it a quick stir once or twice during the hour cooking time. Smell that? I bet you can't wait : )
Add 1/2 cup white wine vinegar and simmer uncovered 35-45 minutes or until the onions are a rich golden brown and thicken up and the liquid is starting to caramelize. Remove and discard the cinnamon stick and bay or sage leaf.
Serve as antipasti on a cheese tray perhaps with some goat cheese mmmmm can you imagine the sweet onions with the tangy goat cheese spread on a crostini or maybe some mascarpone cheese on some bread or use as a spread on top of a roasted pork loin.
This recipe is my adaption of the one My Mom saw on RAI.
This can be served right away, canned, or kept in a tight fitting container for a several weeks in the fridge.
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| My sweet Mama! |
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| My Zio Alfonzo during my above mentioned trip. |
2 comments:
I love anything onion! Casserole, pie, fried, sauteed, yum! I had a jar of something like fancy onion spread. I wish I knew what it was called. It didn't have raisins in it, but otherwise it may have been similar to this. I definitely need to try to make onion marmalade!
My mouth is watering!! I'd love to make this with cipolini onions, they'd be so sweet. The raisins in here is intriguing, again that sweet burst would be amazing. Love the idea of combining it with goat cheese. This marmalade would be amazing on pretty much anything :)
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