This past weekend was our family's early Christmas. We've been doing this the last few years to avoid the chaos but still be able to celebrate together, it works out wonderfully. After a smooth flight we arrived just in time to join the family snuggled onto the couch in pjs with wine (& other festive bevies) and a Christmas movie. It was heaven, the Christmas spirit caught up with me in one evening. The next day the baking began. We had every surface of my sister's kitchen covered in flour, cookie cutters, measuring cups and sweets.
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| Mimmo and the twins. |
Those who have read my previous posts know I have been caught off guard many a time by the oh so annoying overnight resting period. After actually reading the directions ahead of time for this garlicky, oniony appetizer I wanted to make for Sunday supper I got to chopping onions first thing Saturday morning at the furthest end of the kitchen next to the windows. This didn't help one bit. I even applied the trick I had just learned in a cooking class taught by Mary herself from Tante Marie's to keep the freshly cut side down then slice long ways almost all the way through left to right then cutting perpendicular all the way through to create a tearless, perfectly diced onion. I imagine the fact that the onions they grow down in San Diego are 2 pounds a piece may have had something to do with my streaming eye faucets. Thankfully I was raised in a family who has held on to the tradition of handkerchiefs and the twins thought my temporary blindness was hysterical rather than scary (what a difference a year makes).
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| That's one onion! 4 cups! |
If you are up for the tear challenge continue scrolling down.
Food Network presents
Ingredients
3/4 cup roasted garlic (Although we love garlic in my house we can't take a whole lot of it so we roasted approximately a bulb & a 1/2.)
Olive Oil
2/3 cup canola oil
4 cups small-diced red onion [about 2 lbs.] (We used white. You may want to consider pre-cut onion.)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons grated Parmesan
1/4 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro (We used fresh sage & oregano from my sister's garden.)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (I always used lots of black pepper, I love it!)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Twelve 8-inch flour tortillas (We had fresh raw tortillas, which you probably don't want since you have to fry them up individually, although they do taste amazing.)
Directions
Add the garlic to a skillet over low heat with a little olive oil and cook until the garlic just squishes. (I normally roast my garlic in the oven. The end bits got a little charred, but it was quick and worked well.)
Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat, heat the canola oil. Add the onions and cook until lightly browned but not overly dark, about 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the butter and sugar and cook until the onions have thoroughly browned, 20 to 25 minutes.
Add the roasted garlic, Parmesan, mayonnaise, cilantro and salt and pepper to taste and stir to combine. Remove from the heat, transfer to a medium bowl and set aside to cool. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
3/4 cup roasted garlic (Although we love garlic in my house we can't take a whole lot of it so we roasted approximately a bulb & a 1/2.)
Olive Oil
2/3 cup canola oil
4 cups small-diced red onion [about 2 lbs.] (We used white. You may want to consider pre-cut onion.)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons grated Parmesan
1/4 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro (We used fresh sage & oregano from my sister's garden.)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (I always used lots of black pepper, I love it!)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Twelve 8-inch flour tortillas (We had fresh raw tortillas, which you probably don't want since you have to fry them up individually, although they do taste amazing.)
Directions
Add the garlic to a skillet over low heat with a little olive oil and cook until the garlic just squishes. (I normally roast my garlic in the oven. The end bits got a little charred, but it was quick and worked well.)
Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat, heat the canola oil. Add the onions and cook until lightly browned but not overly dark, about 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the butter and sugar and cook until the onions have thoroughly browned, 20 to 25 minutes.
Add the roasted garlic, Parmesan, mayonnaise, cilantro and salt and pepper to taste and stir to combine. Remove from the heat, transfer to a medium bowl and set aside to cool. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
4 hours...perfect time for a hike!
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| This looks promising... |
Hike? Right! It took us 45 minutes just to get out of the house! Then we started with the no scooters, trail only plan. Switched to the two scooters, paved roads while being followed by Alice the house cat walk...which lasted about a block. We finally made it around the corner with two kids, a papa, one scooter and no cat. Ten minutes later we had a kid a half a mile in front of us careening down a steep slope, the other one stopping at every bush looking for possible birds nests for me to carry home and papa turning back (smart man).
30 minutes and 1 mile into our hike/nature stroll we rested because "all this walking is boring".
A grueling 20 minutes later we are back at the house. After a quick rinse it's tortilla baking time.
Reserve one-third of the mixture in the refrigerator to use to make the dipping sauce. Evenly spread the remaining mixture on the top of 11 of the tortillas. Stack the tortillas on top of one another and top with the remaining tortilla. Wrap the tortilla stack in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours to set up.
This is where the family stepped in and took over. After suffering through the intoxicating aroma of onions, garlic and cheese for hours they wanted it now, not 12 hours and certainly not 24 hours from now. Ten minutes later I was trying to hold together pie shaped stacks of tortillas over a hot grill without turning myself into a Fire Marshall Bill sketch. I have no idea how no one in my family ended up a lawyer.
Preheat a grill to medium. Cut the stack into 16 wedges. Using tongs, grill each wedge on the cut sides until it's warmed and grill marks appear.
Our
stack didn't have a chance to meld together properly since it was
basically smooshed together between two heavy plates while the grill
warmed up. This should be a lot easier if you follow the recipe. The
top and bottom flaps kept falling off and got pretty crispy.
Mix the reserved onion mixture with the balsamic vinegar to make a dipping sauce; season to taste. Serve the wedges with the dipping sauce.
This was gone in seconds! I really should have doubled the recipe.
I know this doesn't shout Christmas like a lot of recipes floating around this time of year but it's better than a fruitcake and since we cut down on the garlic we didn't have to hide the mistletoe.
Happy Holidays!
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