CREATE - Caramelized Onion Pasta

The softness and sweetness of the caramelized onions, is punctuated by the salty bursts of capers and chewy raisins. It’s a pungent and simple sauce that melts together with the umami of the anchovy and good, olive oil.

If you cannot find sorel, just omit it; the parsley adds enough herbaceous notes. This is a forgiving recipe and is not meant to be precise, so the measurements are guidelines to follow. You know you have it right when it smells, looks, sounds, and tastes like something that makes you happy.

Makes enough for 3 portions of pasta as a main, or 4 portions as a side. We suggest rigatoni or pappardelle.

Ingredients:

3-4 tbsp olive oil
5-7 onions, sweet variety
3-5 sprigs of fresh thyme
sea salt & freshly cracked black pepper
1/4-1/2 cup water
3-5 anchovies in oil, plus a slip of the oil
1/4 cup capers in salt or brine
3-4 tbsp plump golden raisins
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley
3 tbsp sorel
1/4 cup walnuts, raw
olive oil for drizzling

In a heavy-bottom pot, heat a good amount of olive oil on medium-low heat. Slice a lot of onions cross-wise, thick about 1 cm, because the onions will be cooked down slowly until they reduce a lot in size. Since they will cook for about 30 minutes, you can just keep adding and stirring as you cut them, no need to be fussy.

Add the sprigs of thyme, this recipe has a lot of pungent flavours so don’t be shy about adding a lot of herbs.

Keep stirring, the trick to caramelized onions is to brown them slowly. They can burn easily, which tastes bitter, but when they are golden brown, like the colour of carrot cake, they are sweet and fragrant. When you see the onions making a brown crust on the bottom of the pot, stir so that all the moisture on the other onions dissolves it. If it needs more moisture to dissolve, add a touch of water and scrape off all that brown stuff (fond) and mix into the onions, because that’s what makes it taste amazing.

Once you feel like it’s there, add the anchovies and use a wooden spoon or utensil to break them up into a rough paste. Stir it in and cook for another minute or two so that the flavours meld together.

Afterwards, stir in the capers and raisins, taste and season it for salt and pepper. It should be well balanced between the salty and sweet. Don’t be afraid of seasoning things…if it is too salty, add some more raisins as sweetness will balance it again. Set aside off the heat.

Cook the pasta in salted water in a rolling boil. When it’s al dente, take it out of the water with tongs, place into a heat-proof bowl and add the onions, and a 1/2 cup of the pasta water, and toss together well.

Plate the pasta, sprinkle with parsley, sorel, walnuts, pepper and drizzle with olive oil to serve. Can be served room temperature.

Eat by a sunny window or on the couch with napkins, a fork and a friend.