Sliced onions and fennel, slow cooked until lightly browned, tossed with parmesan, lemon and parsley.
Fennel lovers, onion lovers, unite!
And then shower in grated parmesan, lemon zest and chopped parsley.
The onions and fennel are only lightly caramelized. You can cook them longer if you like, or sprinkle some sugar on top to bring out more of the caramelization.
But just cooking them and lightly browning them and then tossing them with everything else works for me. Wonderful flavors. Excellent with grilled fish or chicken.
Caramelized fennel and onions
ingredients
-
2 big onions, halved, then sliced lengthwise (root to tip) into 1/4-inch-thick slices
-
2 big fennel bulbscut into 1/4 inch thick slices
-
1/4 Cup Extra virgin olive oil
-
1 tablespoon butter
-
Salt
-
1/4 Cup grated parmesan
-
2 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
-
1 teaspoon Lemon peel
-
2 teaspoon lemon juice
method
-
Cooking fennel and onions in olive oil and butter:
Heat olive oil and butter in a large, open, wide skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sliced fennel and onions, stirring to coat. Stir occasionally.
After about 10 minutes, sprinkle the onions and fennel with salt. Lower the temperature to medium.
You want to find a balance between getting the pan hot enough for it to caramelize a little (when the natural sugars in the onion and fennel are starting to brown) and avoid getting the pot so hot that the onions and fennel dry out.
If it becomes a problem, you can add a few tablespoons of water to the pan to keep the onions and fennel from drying out too much.
-
Scrape off brown pieces:
Stir occasionally and scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Note that the browned pieces are the tastiest parts.
Cook for an additional 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how much you’re in a hurry and how caramelized you want your mixture to be. The longer you cook, the more caramelized and browned.
Taste test along the way to see if the cooking was enough for your taste.
By the way, the onions and fennel have a lot of flavor without having to be fully cooked down and browned all over.
-
Toss with parmesan, parsley, lemon:
To serve, remove from the heat and add the freshly grated parmesan cheese, chopped parsley, lemon zest and lemon juice. Taste and add more lemon juice if needed.
Serve alone as an accompaniment to chicken or seafood, or on top of crackers or thinly sliced toasted baguette for crostini. You can also use it as a filling for a rustic cake.
Links:
How to cut an onion
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 214 | calories |
| 18g | Fat |
| 11g | carbohydrates |
| 3g | protein |
