Sweet and sour onions
“A colourful spread of simple, salady appetisers encourages the digestive juices to flow.”
- 12 pickling onions
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp castor sugar
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 tbsp red-wine vinegar
- 1 cup chicken stock or water
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley (optional)
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil for frying
- 1 tbsp toasted pine nuts
One of the simplest ways to welcome guests for a spring or summer lunch party is to arrange simple, salady things with an eye to colour and texture, and encourage grazing while the barbecue is heating up.
Method
Place pickling onions in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil. Tip into a colander, peel and discard the brown skins, leaving the root end attached at this stage.
Rinse the saucepan and dry it. Melt butter in the pan and add the sugar. Stir until sugar has dissolved. Tip in the onions, and stir to coat. Stir the tomato paste into the red-wine vinegar. Add the vinegar mixture to the pan with the stock. Cover and cook for about 15 minutes over a moderate heat until onions test tender with a skewer or the tip of a sharp knife. Uncover the saucepan, increase the heat and boil for 3-4 minutes to reduce the sauce.
Lift onions from the sauce with a slotted spoon and place on a plate. Trim away the root ends and, if very large, cut onions in half. Return onions to sauce and stir in parsley, if using. Taste and adjust seasoning. Transfer sweet and sour onions to a shallow dish.
Heat vegetable oil in a small non-stick frying pan and have a plate alongside lined with a doubled thickness of kitchen paper. (Perhaps use the oil that remains after frying the sweet-potato crisps). Fry the pine nuts, and when golden quickly scoop from the oil with a slotted spoon onto the paper-lined plate.
Scatter over the onions.
