Balsamic Caramelized Onions with Golden Raisins Sauce
[I adjusted this recipe I found on a chat site - It’s really good!]
1 Sweet Onion Sliced (all purpose onions don’t really cut it here)
4T Butter
2 T Brown Sugar (Original recipe called for 4T - too sweet for us - adjust as desired)
1/2 Cup Golden Raisins
4T Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 Cup Marsala Wine
In a saute pan cook the onions in the butter until golden, add the brown sugar, raisins and balsamic vinegar and cook to incorporate @5 minutes or so - finish off with Marsala wine - cooking for a few minutes (add additional butter at the end to finish if desired - I’ll hold back a Tablespoon at the beginning and throw it in at the end)
Great with pork tenderloin. Bake, grill or pan fry the pork, slice into medallions and add to sauce to coat and heat thoroughly.
(I’m going to make a bunch of this too for tonight’s dinner ... oops, I better get going - I’ve got sauce and gravy to make!)
Last night I made the Three Grain Pilaf that Netizen posted on the March 26th thread (post 90) for my family. Since my husband will not eat anything with curry in it I substituted with 1 1/2 tsp. of our favorite Mrs. Dash seasoning instead of the curry powder in the recipe. I used a little more of the Mrs. Dash, since it is not as strong a seasoning as the curry would have been. My family absolutely loved this Pilaf. They ate every last grain of the pilaf.
We had roast chicken and my own cauliflower gratin recipe with it. I had not made the gratin for years since cauliflower is one of those vegetables my husband will not even touch. I only got away with cooking it last night because he had been with me when I saw cauliflower on sale at the grocery store and mentioned that I wished he liked it since I love it. He told me to go ahead and get some and just make it up for myself and who ever else wanted it, since most nights he prefers to skip vegetables altogether anyway. I bought the cauliflower!
Everyone except my husband tried the cauliflower right away and loved it and said it was especially good with the Three grain pilaf. They all started putting a little of each in every bite and said that it was the best combination they had ever eaten. My husband has never heard every family member rave about a vegetable like they did last night, so he actually decided to try the cauliflower and found he actually liked it. He even went on to say that he loved the combination of it with the pilaf and he would definitely eat it again. A victory!
If any of you have a family member who hates cauliflower, you might try this recipe and if you can get them to try it, you might just convince them to eating it every once in a while.
Cauliflower Gratin
1 head cauliflower cut into large florets
5 tablespoons butter, divided
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 c grated Swiss or other white cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/2 of a small onion or 1/4 of a large onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
Blanch cauliflower florets in boiling salted water for about 2 minutes and then drain and set aside.
While the cauliflower is cooking melt three tablespoons of butter on low heat. Remove two tablespoons of the melted butter to reserve for your topping. Then stir in flour to the remaining butter in the pan and continue cooking on low heat for 1-2 minutes to get the flour taste out of the roux.
Add milk and gradually increase the heat stirring constantly and continue cooking until the white sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.
Stir in pepper and nutmeg. (Do not add salt. There is enough salt in the Parmesan cheese for the entire recipe).
Remove from heat and slowly add about ¾ c of the Swiss cheese and about ¼ cup of the Parmesan cheese a little at a time making sure the cheese is all melted before going on to the next step.
Pour half of the white sauce into the bottom of either a 9X9 baking dish or a 8X13 depending on how many florets you have. Place the cauliflower florets on top of the sauce and sprinkle the onions on top. Pour the remaining half of the sauce on top of the cauliflower.
Top with the remaining Swiss cheese, the bread crumbs, and the remaining Parmesan cheese, in that order. Drizzle the top with the butter you had set aside.
Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until the top is nicely browned.