Sunday, November 24, 2013

caramelised onions & onion skin dyeing


preparing onions
fabric sample

onions and onions skins

onion skin sying

onion skins on the stovetop
Making preserves is something I've enjoyed for some time; I have fond memories of learning to make Apricot Jam with my Grandma. This morning I made up a patch of caramelized onions, they are a good accompaniment to cold meats, a great base for savory tarts and easy to make. 

You cook the onions slowly to caramelize their natural sugars, and the addition of brown sugar and balsamic vinegar helps the process along. Instead of throwing the onion skins out I popped them in a saucepan (one that is designated to art & craft tasks) with a couple of pieces of PFD (prepared for dyeing) fabric. I brought it to the boil, reduced the heat and let it gently simmer while I cooked the  onions. 

For the caramelized onions: I put olive oil into a heated fry pan, added 6 sliced onions, a splash of balsamic vinegar and slowly let the onions soften. Once the onions were soften I added the sugar and a hand full of cranberries, reduced the heat and let everything cook slowly until the onions were nicely caramelized; this took about an hour. The 6 large onions gave me a 250 ml jar of caramelized onions which I keep in the fridge and use over the next 1-2 weeks. 

The Fabrics: the top piece of fabric I removed from the liquid after an hour of gentle boiling and rinsed it with hot water so it's lighter than the bottom piece which I left in the liquid for 3-4 hours. I've put together a Caramelized Onion & Fabric Dying Recipe Sheet that you can download, it's in PDF format.

Related Posts:
A little bit of jam & cordial - Rosella Jam & Cordial

Delicious Cherry Jam

Inspiration even when doing the dishes

2 comments:

  1. Glad to see you back and active. Really enjoy your posts and photos. Was that an X-E1 I saw in another blog?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Peter, Yes, pretty sure it was a X-E1. It's not mine but I liked the weight and look of it. I mostly use a Nikon d5000 (the macro (portrait) lens being my favourite) and I also have a Coolpix for fun everyday use.

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