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Braised Onions with Bacon

Source of Recipe

From "Maple Syrup Cookbook" by Ken Haedrich


Recipe Introduction

"I've really tried to like whole onions in the past but never really cared for any of the recipes I found. Until this one. This is nothing less than a sensational way to prepare boiled onions to serve with roasts, steak, and other meats. What you do is briefly sauté the onions in bacon fat, add water and seasonings, then cover and braise. Then you finish them with a touch of maple syrup and sprinkle on the bacon. Better to choose the medium boiling onions than the tiny ones; it saves work in peeling."

List of Ingredients

â—¦ 1 pound medium boiling onions
â—¦ 3 slices bacon
â—¦ ½ cup water
â—¦ 1 teaspoon soy sauce
â—¦ 1 bay leaf
â—¦ ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
â—¦ 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup



Recipe

Peel the onions and cut off the hairy part at the root end. Make a small shallow X in the root end, to encourage even cooking.

Sauté the bacon until crisp in a heavy skillet. Using a slotted spoon or spatula, remove the bacon, blot with paper towels, and set aside. Add the onions to the fat and stir to coat. Cook over medium heat, partially covered, for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the water, soy sauce, bay leaf, and thyme. Cover, decrease the heat slightly, and braise until the onions are almost tender all the way through, 10 to 15 minutes. The exact cooking time will depend on the size of the onions.

Stir the maple syrup into the pan—which will still have a thin layer of liquid in it—and turn up the heat. Cook and stir until the liquid turns to a syrupy glaze; it shouldn't take long. Crumble the bacon and stir it in. Remove the bay leaf. Serve hot, spooning on any available glaze.

Makes 4 to 5 servings