I’d love to get your feelings on condiments…
Are y’all condiment queens (or kings) like me or do you like your burgs et al naked?
I looooove stuff on my burger … and my sandwiches…and my salads….and my fries (when I cave in and eat “all-the-greasy-things” they are always loaded!).
Now, you may be thinking that my burger is piled high with things like ketchup, mustard, relish, mayo, bbq sauce.
Not true.
I DO love all of those things but I also love the things that will make my burger ‘fresh’ like lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, avocado…
So, of course, I loooove these onions! They are crisp and ‘oniony’ (unlike caramelized onions that become sweet), yet they still have a bite to them. They absolutely mellow out in the liquid and they are always a great addition to any savoury dish!
My mom always had some of these in the fridge, so this is a bit nostalgic to me. And for those of you who have been in this foodie social media world, you may know that there has been a resurgence and newfound popularity with preserved onions of some sort or another. We all know this dish wasn’t invented yesterday, but I still struggled to post this for a long while because it seemed that this had, somehow, suddenly become new (it is not).
A few weeks ago I did an Instagram reel about using your leftover pickle brine to do a quick pickle of some veggies you have in your fridge (you can see it here!). I had the jar below with some leftover pickle brine, so I added half a sliced red onion and, bammmm…DELISH!!! Aaaand it went a bit viral so I know y’all love these kind of tips!
So the two ways to ‘preserve’ your onions are as follows:
- Add sliced onions to your pickle brine (it will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks). This version is a true ‘pickle’…it stays quite crisp and has a very strong vinegar taste (I love adding these to homemade coleslaw…gamechanger!).
- Make a quick vinaigrette and add your sliced onions to the liquid. The oil will give your onions more mellow flavour but they will not be as crisp as the onions in the brine. I love this version on top of my avocado toast!!
How to start the vinaigrette version:
- Choose your onions wisely – make sure they aren’t strong. My favourite variety is red onions followed closely by Vidalia.
- Slice them very thin. You can use a sharp knife (make sure your knife skills are on point…you don’t want ununiform slices), a mandolin or even a meat slicer.
- In a large jar, add you oil, vinegar and spices…
- I love oregano and salt but feel free to change it up to suit your tastes!
- Add your onions, stir well and set them aside for a few hours before using. I keep mine in the fridge but you can even leave them on the counter (make sure you don’t add garlic to the mix as there is a [very slight] chance that a chemical reaction could occur between the garlic and oil and make you sick).
Like I said, these onions on avocado toast is my fave! They will add such a punch to so many of your favourite dishes!!
What’s the first dish you are going to add your onions to??
Aaaand, here is a shortcut to having some pickled onions in your fridge…all you need is a empty jar of pickles in your fridge!!
Two Ways to Have Pickled/Marinated Onions
Ingredients
- 2 red onions
- 2 cups olive oil
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Cut the onions in half, remove the skin and slice thinly; set aside
- In a large lidded-jar, add the olive oil, vinegar, oregano and salt; place the lid on the jar and shake well
- Add onions to the jar and mix well.
- Leave on the counter or refrigerate (if you refrigerate it, the oil may congeal…don’t worry…once it comes back to room temp, it will return to it’s liquid form).
- Enjoy on salad, in a sandwich or straight out of the jar!!
