Cippolini in Agrodolce

Red Marble Cippolini - Ready to Go

Last week we harvested our Red Marble Cippolini and set them out to dry. Today I cleaned 'em up and sorted them by size. I had about a pound of medium sized onions - about an inch in diameter so I decided to prepare them "agrodolce" style.

I used Mario Batali's recipe, which can be found here: Cippolini en Agrodolce.

Take about a pound of small cippolini type onions, rub off any loose skin and trim both ends. If the root ends seem particularly large, use a small sharp knife and cut a little cone out of them as you would core a tomato. Then dump 'em in a pot of boiling water and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Boil 'em for 5 minutes

Peel

Drain the onions and let them cool. Then remove any loose or dry looking skin. No matter how well you prepared the onions there will still be some bits to peel off. Don't worry if you don't get everything perfectly pristine (like that one on the left). The tough and dry bits will peel off on the next step.

Fry 'em Up

Pour 3 tablespoons of olive oil into a frying pan large enough to hold the onions in one layer, add two bay leaves and heat on medium high until the oil begins to shimmer. Reduce the heat, dump the onions carefully into the hot oil and saute them until they begin to brown.

Caramelize

Combine two tablespoons of red wine vinegar and one tablespoon of sugar. Turn the heat way down and even more carefully pour in the sugar and vinegar mixture. On low heat simmer the onions, stirring constantly, until the mixture begins to caramelize. When the onions look nice and you've  picked out the bits of dry skin pop 'em into a serving bowl and let them cool.

Eat!

Serve warm or at room temperature as part of an assortment of savory antipasti.