Creamed Onion Gratin

from Saveur magazine

This summer, I started subscribing to Saveur magazine, and man, I just love getting that thing. Have I talked about this before? It's such a relaxing, fun treat for me. I haven't subscribed to a magazine in ages, partially because you can find just about all of the content online. (In fact, even though I originally found this recipe in the magazine, I used the identical recipe posted at www.saveur.com.) But there is something I just love about reading the magazine cover-to-cover. So there.

Anyway, doing just that helped me to know exactly what I wanted to make when our friends the Jacobs...Jacobses?...had a group of folks over pre-Christmas for a little holiday potluck. Saveur had a whole article on different types of onions (who knew?!), and associated recipes. Creamed onion gratin stood out as something not too hard, and also as something totally not in my wheelhouse. (Although, as it turns out, the sauce is basically a bechamel, so, you know, it at least has that in common with our family's lasagna!)

Ohhhhh man, this is soooo decadently, richly delicious. So wonderfully bad for you. The photo in no way does it justice - particularly since I took the photo before bringing it to the potluck, where I then quickly popped the dish under the broiler to make the cheese nice and golden and just a little crisp. A great side-dish, especially for the holidays. Great with a little bread.

SERVES 6–8
2 medium yellow onions, halved and quartered lengthwise
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp flour
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup dry white wine
Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
1/2 cup finely grated parmesan
3 oz gorgonzola, crumbled
1/4 tsp paprika

Heat oven to 350. Toss onions with oil in a 9″x11″ baking dish and season with salt and pepper. Bake, stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly browned, about 1 hour, and then set aside. Heat oven to broil.

Heat butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat; add flour, and cook, stirring, until smooth, about 1 minute. Add cream and wine, and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Season sauce with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

Pour sauce evenly over onions. Sprinkle with parmesan, dot with gorgonzola, and sprinkle with paprika. Broil until cheese is melted and golden brown on top, about 2 minutes.

Maple Candied Bacon and Sweet Potato Hash with Fried Eggs

(from Claire Robinson's 5 Ingredient Fix)

Confession: I made this a long time ago. For New Year's Eve breakfast, actually - so in fact, this was the first thing I cooked in 2011. Whaddya know! Joef got me this cookbook for Christmas, and it's got a lot of good stuff in it, including this. This is actually two recipes - the bacon and the hash. The bacon is fabulous. The hash - she recommended it "deconstructed" - but I thought it tasted better mixed together. Also, if anyone can help me figure out how to make the sweet potatoes crunchy on the outside instead of soft/mushy, please share!

DECONSTRUCTED SWEET POTATO HASH (with Fried Eggs)
1/4 lb (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided
12 fresh sage leaves, divided
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup water, plus more as needed
2 sweet onions, chopped (Vidalia work)
(Fried eggs)

Melt 4 tbsp of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sage leaves and fry until crisp. Transfer to a paper-lined plate to drain.

Add the sweet potatoes to the skilled, toss to coat in the butter, then add the water and the rest of the sage (maybe this is the part where it gets mushy? I wonder if you could just boil the potatoes in water until they just slightly softened, then fry them up and skip this whole water part.) Bring the water to a simmer and cook the potatoes until the water evaporates and the potatoes are fork-tended. Remove any excess water and reserve. Keep cooking the potatoes until crusty brown (that's the part that never happened for me). Add more water or the reserved liquid if the potatoes stick.

Meanwhile, melt 2 tbsp of butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped onions and cook, adding water if the pan gets dry, until deep golden brown and caramelized. This will take about 20 minutes. You can fry the eggs in this pan, too.

Put potatoes and onions next to each other on a plate and top with a fried egg. Or, mix the onions and potatoes together.

MAPLE CANDIED BACON
1 lb thick-sliced bacon
1/2 cup Grade B maple syrup
1 tsp Dijon mustard
Ground black pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 400. Line a rimmed baking sheet with heavy foil. Place a baking rack over the sheet and arrange the bacon slices across the rack next to each other.

In a small bowl, whisk the syrup and mustard. Spoon over the bacon and bake about 12-15 minutes. Turn the bacon over and repeat. Bake another 5-10 minutes or until crispy. (Alt: dip each slice of bacon in the mixture, let drip, then bake.)

Remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle bacon with a little ground pepper, if you want. Let it sit for about 5 minutes, then serve with your hash and eggs.

Goat Cheese, Tomato, and Caramelized Onion Omelette

Here we go, another "recipe" whose name pretty much sums things up. But I've never actually successfully made an omelette, so this was an accomplishment for me. Plus, say you have leftover goat cheese from a certain salad, and leftover tomatoes from a certain fish dish...well, there you go.

3 eggs, beaten
Butter
1/4 cup (ish) cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup (ish) white onion, sliced or chopped
A few sprigs arugula
As much goat cheese, crumbled, as you want

First, caramelize the onions: take a frying pan and grease the bottom with butter, then add the onions and cook them on medium until they begin to soften and brown. Put them aside.

Second, do the same with the tomatoes (will take less time).

Butter the pan again and pour in the egg (turn up the heat a tad). Lift the pan and shift the eggs until the bottom of the pan is covered; you can lift up the sides a bit and let the egg run under itself a little, too. Cook until the top is nearly not runny, then add the onion, tomatoes, arugula, and cheese to one side. Fold the other side over the filling, then flip. Repeat the flip until the cheese is melty and all the egg is cooked. You could even serve it with a little arugula salad on the side.