Italian Sweet and Sour Onions

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                            FOOD FUNNY
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Thanks, as always, to Rosemary Zwick for today's food funny:

On the occasion of my 14th birthday, my sister sent me a
wonderful package. It was a real wooden box labeled "Virginia's
Finest Sampler." The box contained several vacuum sealed
ham steaks, a pound of dry cured bacon, a jar of Red Clover
honey, a cloth bag of corn bread mix, another of buttermilk
biscuit mix, and a small tin of specially blended tea. That
evening I skittered into the kitchen to cook up my birthday
meal. I cooked up the corn bread and ham, and opened a can
of turnip greens to go with it, but when I went to brew up the
tea, the little tin was no where to be found. Yelling to my
parents from the other room, "Has anyone seen my tea?"

"Your what?" came the reply.

"My tea! I've lost my Virginia tea!"

I immediately heard my parents in uproarious laughter. After
composing themselves, the tea was located and dinner was served.

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                            TODAY'S RECIPE
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These little onions make an elegant appetizer or cocktail snack
all by themselves, or you can toss some on a salad or serve them
as a side dish with meat or seafood. They will keep for a long time
in the fridge, so consider making a double or triple batch.

Sweet and Sour Onions (Cippoline en Agrodolce)

2 lbs (900 g) small Italian cippoline onions if available, or small
white onions, pearl onions, or shallots, peeled and left whole
3 Tbs (45 ml) butter
1/2 cup (125 ml) balsamic vinegar
2 Tbs (30 ml) sugar or honey
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Boil the onions in salted water until tender all the way through.
Drain and pat dry. Heat the butter in a large heavy skillet over
high heat and saute the onions until browned all over, about 10
minutes. Add the vinegar and sugar to the pan and continue
cooking, shaking the skillet to roll the onions in the vinegar
mixture, until the syrup thickens and glazes the onions. Season
with salt and pepper and serve warm or at room temperature.
Serves 6 to 8.
Received on Mon Sep 6 12:25:29 2010