Rosemary Roasted Onions

Deciding on a main course is one thing. But, after that decision, comes another important decision - what to have with your main? Side dishes were invented to round out the meal. Otherwise, we would all be eating just protein. You need some vegetables and some starches to balance out a meal completely. Traditionally, your side dishes are made with certain vegetables. Carrots and potatoes anyone? That does get boring after a while. This recipe highlights onions in a very tasty way

Ingredients

3 medium Red Onions, quartered - Remember to leave the peel and roots intact before cutting. You may remove the papery outer peel after cutting the onions up. In fact, they may fall off on their own.

Olive Oil 4 tablespoons - I would stick with a lighter oil for this recipe. The heavier the oil the more chance of burning the onions rather than roasting them.

2 sprigs Rosemary - For this recipe you really do need fresh sprigs or Rosemary. You can use dried but, the flavour of the onions might overpower the dried herb.

1/2t Vinegar - Plain olf white vinegar is best in this recipe as a stronger flavoured vinegar might clash with the flavour of the onions.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 celcius.

Place the onion quarters and rosemary into a bowl. Drizzle with two tablespoons of the olive oil. Toss well to coat evenly.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay the onions cut side down on the parchment paper. Lay the rosemary on top of the onions

Place the baking sheet into the oven. Roast for fifteen minutes.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Flip the onion quarters. Place the baking sheet back into the oven and bake for an additional five minutes.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and allow to cool.

Once cool enough to handle, transfer the onions to a serving dish. Place the rosemary sprigs on top.

In a small bowl or cup, mix the remaining olive oil and vinegar. Drizzle over top of the onions and serve.

Notes - You normally would not think of serving roasted onions as a side but the aroma wafting through the kitchen when these are cooking is amazing.

This Dish pairs well with many starches - roasted radishes, mashed potatoes and spaghetti squash to name a few.

I have also made this dish with the addition of whole garlic cloves. I roast 2-3 cloves per guest and remove the cloves from the stem, peel but leave whole - you may want to cut a bit of the woody stem at the base of the clove if your garlic is older. Other than that just add the cloves and follow the recipe as usual.

There are many types of onion available. I would stay away from white onions as they are stronger but other onions are more flavourful. Red or spanish onions are my favourites but you could also use a yellow onion in this recipe. A sweet onion might also taste nice when roasted as would vidalia, bermuda . If you decided to go with shallots which are a lot smaller than regular onions, I would get 12 shallots and leave them whole rather than quartering them. The same goes for Cipollini which are also a smaller onion.

In a pinch you could also try this recipe with leeks. In that case, trim the leek stalk, rinse and dry then cut the stalk into fairly thick slices - one half inch to one inch and then bake as for the rest of the recipe.