Red onion marmalade made easy

Last updated Jan 14, 2021 at 7:57PM | Published on Dec 15, 2019

Affiliate Disclosure : As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.  Some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I may earn a commission.

raw red onions on a board

Such a pretty product, at every stage.

Inspiration...

 

I was having a real craving for a chutney or onion jam. Was thinking of making a cheese ploughmans ( brings back 1980s memories of Branston pickle !) or a burger. As usual, I wanted it straight away ! So when I found this recipe from the Anova ( sous vide website) it looked too easy to be true ! So I set out to make both – the onion jam, and the burger. 

I love the simplicity of this recipe, and I had all the (few) ingredients in the cupboard. First I looked on the chefsteps site but they do tend to go a bit more cheffy and had an ingredient I didn’t have ( and you probably don’t either ) Malic acid ! Who has that in the cupboard ?  It got me thinking though and maybe I will investigate it to see if it’s worthwhile. Watch this space…

Essential Kitchen tools

large sharp knife for cutting the onions

large frying pan or steel saucepan

sous vide machine and container for the water

hand blender if you want to make the marmalade into jam later

home-made burger and red onion marmalade

Essential Ingredients

 

3 medium red onions

1 tablespoon butter

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 tablespoons Balsamic

1 Tablespoon honey

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

 

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Fool proof cooking

 

close up sous vide cooking red onion marmaladeThat’s where the sous vide machine comes in. It’s perfect hands-off cooking.

No over-cooking or under-cooking for me any more !

Here’s a close up, onions in a large Ikea freezer bag, held down with a nice lava stone I picked up on the beach.

 

 

close up sous vide cooking red onion marmaladeAnd it mean’t I could do something more useful and make my first burger with some left over steak meat. First time I’ve used my teeny tiny Bamix meat blade to actually mince meat and I am soooo impressed.

That blender is just genius !

 

The Method

 

setting for making onion marmalade jam with sous vide1. Put the Sous Vide in a pan of water and set the temperature to 185ºF/85ºC .

2. Peel the onions, and slice ( about half an inch thick ) leaving a little root end to hold the slice together. 

3. Melt half the butter over medium high heat in a large, frying pan. Add half the onions, season with salt and pepper if you like, and brown the wedges on each side ( took me about 7mins ).

4. Take them off the pan and store, then do the same with the rest of the onions ( this way you should get plenty of room on the pan to brown each slice. )

4. Add the balsamic vinegar to skillet and let it reduce for a minute.

5. Now take the pan off the heat and stir in the honey.

6.When the water comes to185ºF/85ºC, seal onions into an airtight plastic bag and immerse in the hot water with the sous vide immersion circulator ( or in your water oven if that’s what you have. )

7.  Set the time to 1.5 to 2 hours and leave to cook. (Clip the bag to the side or weigh down with something – I do both ! )

8. When the timer is finished, remove the bag from cooking water. Carefully open and spoon onions into serving dish. Sprinkle with fresh thyme and serve immediately.  

 

Note: the onions can be stored up to 5 days, covered and refrigerated. Ours didn’t last that long !

 

 

The cooked result

home-made burger and red onion marmalade

How to enjoy your marmalade

So far, I’ve enjoyed it with my burger in a toasted bun. I’ve spread it on toast with paté, and had it with bacon in a bacon sandwich. It would also be a great addition to any sandwich, or as an extra pizza topping.

 

A good butter replacement

Thought you should know. Each time, I’ve not had butter, and I usually do.  So, with the marmalade I didn’t miss the butter at all !!

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Affiliate disclosure

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.  Some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I may earn a commission.

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