Roasted Garlic and Onion Jam

Guy at work: What's in that jar?
Me: Onion Jam.
Guy at work: Onion jam??
Me: Yes, Onion Jam!

I would have reacted the same way,if I was told to try some onion jam a week ago. But when I had this lovely smoked turkey and gouda melt sandwich with some amazing multigrain bread, I was completely bowled over by the onion jam in it.

Have you ever had some delicious Indian biryani? Well you'll often find these garnished with some beautiful caramelized onions, maybe with a dash of garlic. The onion jam is something similar to that, only soft rather than crispy, and sweet rather than salty. And it's a delicious treat that can be served by the side of any bread or mains. I looked up various recipes and finally came up with something to my liking (most recipes called for quite a lot of brown sugar, but I thought I'd add just a spoonful at a time till the flavour matched my liking. Meanwhile I let the onions caramelise with the balsamic vinegar and impart their own natural sweetness.

This jam turned out to be finger-lickin' good. Before making it, I thought I'd gift a jar away, but now I'm feeling greedy. *gushing* I'm so happy to have discovered something so versatile. What’s nice about this is the sheer simplicity of combining a few good ingredients to give astonishing results. I'm always a little partial to foods with balsamic vinegar, and this jam is no exception.

Roasted Garlic and Onion Jam

750g/26oz. onions (use Spanish onions for a deeper shade of the jam)
2 heads garlic, roasted
2 tbsp olive oil
5 tbsp brown sugar (can adjust this to your liking)
1/2 cup water
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt

1. Squeeze roasted garlic cloves into a plate.
2. Coarsely chop the onions into chunks (since chopping them small would make them mushy instead of giving them a good enough texture).
3. In a hot pan, add the olive oil and wait until heated.
4. Add the onions, and cover. Stir occasionally, until the onions are softened and translucent, about 15-20 minutes.
5. Add sugar and put the lid back on.
6. Stir occasionally, until onions are golden, 20 - 30 minutes.
7. Add 1/4 cup water and stir (again!).
8. Cover and cook until dark brown, 20 -30 minutes.
9. Add balsamic vinegar, roasted garlic cloves, and another 1/4 cup water.
10. Continue to cook uncovered until liquid has been absorbed, about 10 minutes.
11. Transfer it to a container after it has cooled. Keep refrigerated.
    

Variation: you could add a sprig of fresh rosemary or a spoonful of caraway seeds to the jam while it's cooking to have each accentuate the flavour of the onion jam. To add some spice, throw in a stick of a cinnamon and a couple of star anise.

Here are some fun things you could do with the jam:

• Place a large dollop of this over a hot, juicy steak and watch your family's appetite grow by the serving!
• Any type of Southern, Carribean or Creole food
• Use it as an accompaniment to your cheeseboard
• Spread it on some crusty country bread or crackers
• Use it as a tart filling, topped with blue cheese
• Try it with roast or grilled pork or beef
  
• I think it would be lovely with an egg preparation
• Would go wonderfully with roasts
• Add it to a sauce and you've another dimension to it
• With roasted tomatoes, goat's cheese and rocket in a sandwich
• This one's my favourite - I'm sure this will have your mouth watering: homemade crackers smeared with the onion jam and crumbled with some goat's cheese!

There's just this one cuisine that I am really dying to try this out on, something that I have always wanted to make but have never found the time to do so. I really wonder how it may turn out since this cuisine has a really lovely blend of flavours and textures. It would probably go especially well with the sea-food dishes of this region. That cuisine - Japanese! So if any of you ever plan on cooking any Japanese food, try and incorporate this beautiful onion jam into it, and be sure to comment or blog about how it turned out. :)

Update: Velky Al of Fuggled made this recipe and added a twist to it by using beer. Interesting stuff.

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