Sweet and sour onions with white wine, a simple yet incredibly delicious recipe to enjoy excellent borettane onions in a sweet and sour style. This recipe is from my mother-in-law; I’ve seen her cook it so many times for Sunday lunch that I’ve made it my own, and luckily so, because when the family craves grandma’s sweet and sour borettane onions, I can satisfy everyone, as I have observed her many times and learned the smallest secrets, like using a few cloves or browning the onions well in oil at the start, small tricks that make a difference. Like all grandma’s recipes, this is a very simple one; the onions are cooked in white wine, and as it dries, it caramelizes the onions, making them really special. As I already mentioned, my mother-in-law always adds a few cloves to this recipe; she lived for several years in South Africa, Egypt, Botswana, and was accustomed to using spices in the kitchen, and with onions, cloves go very well, adding that extra touch that doesn’t hurt. Another little trick from my mother-in-law is to brown the onions well, and yes, so that in the end, the caramel will be more golden, and the onions will take on a beautiful amber color. Now that I’ve revealed all the tricks to prepare excellent sweet and sour onions, I just have to give you the ingredients to prepare them. To avoid crying like crazy while cleaning them, try soaking them in cold water.
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All Seasons
Ingredients
- 3.3 lbs borettane onion
- 1 cup white wine (200 ml)
- to taste olive oil
- 5 cloves
- 1 pinch salt
- 3 grains black and white pepper
Tools for Preparing Sweet and Sour Borettane Onions
- 1 Pan with lid
Steps
Clean all the onions, cut the roots, and remove the outer dry layers, then wash them. If there are moldy parts, remove them.
In a non-stick pan add a drizzle of olive oil, add the cleaned and washed borettane onions and let them brown over medium-high heat. It’s important to let them brown well for a few minutes. Add the spices.
Lower the heat and add the wine, a generous cup, bring to a boil over higher heat, then once it starts boiling, reduce to medium, at the lowest. Cook with a lid.
Add a little water to the onions as they dry out during cooking. Cover and let cook for about 45 minutes, or a little less, I like the onions to be soft, so I cook them for at least 40 minutes or even an hour if I want them well caramelized.
These in the photo were cooked longer with a pinch of sugar at the end.
When the sweet and sour borettane onions are soft, we can remove the lid and let the liquids dry completely, so that a sort of sauce forms at the bottom like caramel. Finally, add a pinch of salt and, if desired, a pinch of sugar and leave on the heat for a few more minutes.
At this point, our borettane onions are ready, great to serve as a side dish to meat or fish, I could even eat them for breakfast, they’re that good.
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