In the weeks ahead when you will most likely be eating more egg salad sandwiches than normal (all of those hard boiled Easter eggs need to be put to good use) or grilling outside more frequently (especially by those 'non-grill outside year round diehards'), you will definitely want pickled onions to be 'the' must-have, must-serve condiment on your table. I will show my pickled onion bias and just say you will definitely want Pickled Red Onions as your 'house' condiment. In the onion world, not all onions were created equal.
A few months ago I indulged myself and bought a new knife, a knife I never had before, a Shun knife. This is the sharpest knife I have ever owned and one that had me a little intimidated when I used it the first time. Am I being redundant when I say this knife is sharp or I am just trying to let you know that this isn't your ordinary knife? Okay, yes I know I am asking a rhetorical question here. But fear not all of this talk of sharpness, as I have learned to respect this knife as well as greatly appreciate its' ability to slice vegetables so perfectly one can't help but feel you are channeling an inner five-star restaurant chef when you are using it.
Two large red onions are peeled and then very thinly sliced crosswise so that you end up with beautiful rounds of onion.
Either before or after the onions are sliced, you will mix together the red wine vinegar, cold water, Kosher salt, sugar, and a few dashes of hot sauce. This mixture is then poured over the thinly sliced red onions. The pickling process does not take long but the pickling flavor is enhanced the longer you allow the red onions to marinate. At a minimum you should allow the red onions to marinate for one hour (not a minute less) before using or serving. But if you can wait a little longer and allow the red onions to marinate overnight, your patience will be rewarded. Isn't patience almost always rewarded?
I usually allow the red onions to marinate in the bowl for an hour before transferring them to covered jars. This recipe makes enough for two half-liter jars, one to keep and one to give to a friend as a gift. It just might be one of the best gifts you can give to a friend, particularly if they are ones who love pickled red onions.
Pickled Red Onions
Ingredients
2 large red onions, sliced thinly
1 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup cold water
4 Tablespoons Kosher salt
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
4-6 dashes of hot sauce (recommend Cholula Hot Sauce)
Directions
1. In a small bowl, mix together the vinegar, water, Kosher salt, sugar and hot sauce. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, place thinly sliced red onions. Pour vinegar mixture over. Stir gently.
3. Allow onions to marinate for at least one hour before using. (Note: Onions are even better pickled when allowed to marinate overnight in the refrigerator.)
It has been years since I went to the monthly antique/flea market near where I now live. The fairgrounds where the market is held have been renovated over the years resulting in a smaller number of booths and tables to take in. However, there are still enough dealers there to keep one there walking for hours. And so on Sunday my best childhood friend and I walked the market for hours looking for treasures we either needed or didn't (sometimes its' finding the things you didn't think you needed as are much fun as finding as the ones you really did need). I went to the market with a mental list of those things I 'needed'. Having a list sounds like a good plan but it isn't always a good thing for me as I can become so focused on looking only for those things that I don't see anything else. I mean I see them, but I don't see them. In other words I see only what I want to because I can filter everything else out. Which honestly, describes how I can sometimes 'want' to see the world and everyone in it. We all do this to some extent, either we over focus on the positive and minimize the negative or over focus on the negative and minimize the positive.
Being objective is usually easier when you are not invested in something or someone. And it is definitely a little harder when you are. Like walking through an antique/flea market, having either tunnel vision or being distracted by little things, you could miss something, something important, or something (or someone) you might need (but didn't know you did). And if you ever walked down the condiment aisle in the grocery store and saw pickled onions and thought 'don't need or want them', well maybe the time has come for you to reconsider your opinion of them. Only I would suggest you pick up the ingredients for making them. And you might just experience the euphoria that comes with experiencing something you really didn't think you needed (or wanted).
