You Have to Fry a Whole Bunch of Onions in a Muffin Pan
I’m a big fan of butter-baked onions : mild, savory, and comforting. No charring, no browned bits, just soft onion layers that melt in your mouth.
However, doing them is quite tedious (although not difficult). Remove the core of the onion, stuff it with seasoned butter, then wrap in foil and bake for at least an hour until soft and elastic. Perfect for a crowd of four or less, but a little bulky for a big party.
For a large crowd, I like to take a web page from the Food52 book and open up a cupcake pan. Muffin tins hold 12 onion halves at once, allowing you to fry a whole bunch without removing the core or packaging.
However, the effect is slightly different. Instead of a uniform texture throughout the onion, the edges are charred and caramelized, although this is certainly not bad. Burnt is not always an unpleasant taste, especially when it comes to onions. The bitterness balances the sweet, and the crunchiness balances the softness, resulting in a balanced taste of all the health benefits of the onion.
Food52’s recipe is simple: cut an onion in half and season with salt and pepper, then sauté for 20 minutes, then brush with ghee and sauté some more. I decided to brush each half with room temperature butter before putting them in the oven so I didn’t have to fiddle halfway through cooking. Everything turned out just fine.
You can leave the seasoning as simple as Food52, or you can pound some broth (or better than broth) into butter before putting it on top of the onion. For French onion soup, you can use BTB roast beef base. Sprinkle some grated Gruyère on top and sauté for a minute or so.
Fried onions in a muffin pan
Ingredients:
- 6 small onions of any kind (even red will do)
- 3 tablespoons butter at room temperature
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Optional: 6 bouillon cubes or 2 tablespoons BTB.
- Optional: grated gruyère
Preheat the oven to 425℉ and cut the onion in half to expose the concentric circles of the onion layers. Place each in a muffin tin. Mix the broth with the butter, if using, then brush the onion with the butter. Season with salt and pepper if you are not using stock.
Roast for an hour, flipping in the middle, until the onion can be easily pierced with a knife. If after an hour they are not soft enough, turn off the oven and let them stand warm for another 20 minutes. Sprinkle a few teaspoons of grated cheese on each half of the onion, if using, and fry for about a minute until the cheese is melted and browned.