Onion Marmalade

I soon realised, when I started growing veg, that there's only so much one (quite petite) person can eat. So, back in August, with more tomatoes and runner beans than I knew what to do with, I made my first ever batches of chutney. Since then, though, I've become a bit obsessed with boiling stuff up in vinegar or sugar and cramming it into jars. This has not gone unnoticed by my friends, who, perhaps in an attempt to shut me up about it, have started making jammy requests.

And that is how I came to spend my morning making onion marmalade.

I don't remember where my friend said she got the recipe from, so I'm going to appropriate it as my own.

Onion Marmalade

Makes three 225ml jars.

What you'll need:

50g unsalted butter
150g unrefined caster sugar
1tsp salt
2tsp ground pepper
Literally LOADS of onions*
and
Most of this booze...















Put the butter in a large heavy-bottomed pan on a medium heat and wait for it to go brown, but be careful not to let it burn.

Finely chop the onions and put them in the pan, coating them in the melted butter. Stir in the sugar, salt and pepper. Loosely place the lid on and leave for 30 mins. In which time you can have a tidy up. Or make yourself a sandwich and watch tv, which may or may not be what I did.

After half an hour it should look sort of like this:















Then add 1/2 a pint of red wine, 100ml of sherry vinegar and 2 tablespoons of Creme de Cassis to the pot. You might want to put the extractor fan on, or open a door or window, as the smell is a little strong while the alcohol is burning off. I don't drink, so was slaughtered after one sniff.

Leave for another half an hour, stirring occasionally so it doesn't stick to the bottom.

After which time, it will look like this:















Then simply decant into sterilised jars and label when cool. Can be eaten on the day it's made or up to a year later.

Delicious with pates, cold meats, cheese - or with anything, really.

* Well, 12 medium ones (or 675g), which is, by anyones standards, quite a lot of onions.