Confit of Slow-Cooked Onions

Again trying out a new area: pickles. I had these lovely slow cooked onions with toasted bread (sadly the small corner shop run out of ciabatta bread:(( and because of the Sunday licensing law all the supermarkets are closed), some tomatoes and Brie Cheese, but it think it would be perfect with some Sunday roast as well. 

Confit of Slow-Cooked Onions

Ingredients
2tbsp olive oil
1tbsp butter
500g onions sliced
3-5 fresh thyme springs
1fresh bay leaf
2tbsp light muscovado(brown) sugar
50g ready to eat prunes, chopped
2tbsp balsamic vinegar
120ml red wine
3 garlic cloves, chopped
salt and black pepper


Reserve 1tsp of the oil, then heat the remaining oil with the butter in a large pan. Add the onions, cover and cook gently over a low heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Season with salt and ground black pepper, then add the thyme, bay leaf and sugar. Cook slowly, uncovered, for a further 15-20 minutes until the onions are very soft and dark. Stir the onions occasionally during cooking to prevent them sticking or burning.


Add the prunes, vinegar, wine and garlic to the pan and cook over a low heat, stirring frequently for 20 minutes, on until most of the liquid has evaporated. 


Remove from the heat and adjust the seasoning in necessary, adding more sugar and/or vinegar to taste. Leave the confit to cool then stir in the remaining 1tsp olive oil.