French Onion Jam

My favorite food in the entire world is caramelized onions.  They are the perfect combination of sweet and savory and when done correctly make a dish a million times better.  When I was first getting into cooking in high school, I used to make this salad almost every single day with spinach leaves, cucumbers, avocado and a touch of peanut sauce and then top it with a smattering of caramelized onions.  When I finally got a kitchen of my own in college, I would make egg white omelets that started with caramelized onions almost every single day.   If I'm out to eat and there are caramelized onions on a dish, you know that's what I'm going to order.

It is neither socially acceptable nor the basis for a well balanced diet to only eat caramelized onions.  Now, I incorporate them in tarts, pizzas, and anything else I can shove 'em in.  When I'm feeling fancy I pick up a bottle of red (maybe a bottle of white?) and a baguette and make myself a big pot of french onion soup. I've even shared my recipe with you on the blog.  Any time I am dreaming up a recipe or am inspired by something I see or read, there is always a little voice in the back of my head asking "Can this be made better with caramelized onions?"

Last Sunday was no different.  I woke up feeling like I could take on the world and wanted to run every single errand before noon so I could cook all afternoon.  I biked down to my favorite Trader Joe's (to be replaced by the U street TJ's in March!), picked up what I couldn't get there at two other places, and got home in time to force Lisa to go to breakfast with me at our favorite French Bakery.  The just-baked baguettes were calling to me, begging to for some french onion… jam?

Yes, french onion jam!  I did everything I would do to start a french onion soup from cooking the onions low and slow for almost two hours (patience is a virtue), deglazing with red wine, simmering with a little bit of stock to get the flavor of long-cooked soup, and reducing to make the most luscious onion jam I've ever had in my life.  This whole process will take you about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, but I refuse to give you exact times.  Keep the heat low, stay semi-close to the stove (I would check every 5-10 minutes), and trust your gut!

I used the jam in a sort of reconstructed french onion soup sandwich.  Sections of baguette were sliced for sandwiches, slathered with the jam while still hot, covered with thinly sliced gruyere cheese, and topped with a little bit of a baby arugula lettuce mix for some bite.  It could also work at a crostini for a party, like I tried below.  For an extra special touch, you could throw it under the broiler like you do the soup to get the cheese nice and bubbly.

It was a fun and lazy Sunday cooking project that left an almost full bottle wine to be enjoyed with the French Onion Jam sandwiches.  And I am not ashamed to admit that I ate the jam on almost everything for the rest of the week.  Judge me.

Roasted Balsamic Strawberry Buttermilk Cake

Recently, I have wanted to put buttermilk in everything but have been limited by availability.  Well fear not, dear readers, because I have finally found a source in my neighborhood!  Expect many more posts including buttermilk in the near future, on the heels of my pinterest-popular Nutella Buttermilk Bars.  Today, I'm using the buttermilk in a too-easy-it's-crazy buttermilk cake from Gourmet.

Instead of fresh berries, I used my roasted balsamic strawberries.  Buttermilk is notoriously tangy so I thought that it would pair well with the tangy-sweet roasted berries.  Light and fluffy cake with a little crunch from extra sugar sprinkled on top, it is the perfect pick-me-up bite at the end of the day.

So, what are your favorite ways to use buttermilk?

Roasted Balsamic Strawberries

Remember when I first told you how awesome strawberry and balsamic is together?  The strawberry cupcakes drizzled with a thick tangy-sweet balsamic glaze.  Let's just say I'm slightly obsessed with this flavor pairing.  This weekend, during the grand re-opening sale at my local grocery store they were selling 2 pounds of strawberries for 3 bucks a pop so I grabbed one too many.  Gorgeously plump and bright red, I couldn't let them go to waste due to my inability to say no to cheap fruit.

Recently, I had seen a few recipes for roasted strawberries here and there on the internets and thought I can do that!  So I hulled up my strawberries, preheated the oven, and got to roasting!  Just a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar (good stuff, please) and olive oil, a drizzle of agave nectar, and a pinch of salt gives the most incredible depth to the roasted strawberries.

I took the finished product and used it in a quick crostini topped with fresh mozzarella, roasted berries, and a chiffonade of basil.  It was bright and simple and to die for!  But that's not all, tomorrow I will be showing you the most incredible buttermilk cake complete with the roasted strawberries!

Strawberry Cupcakes with Goat Cheese Frosting and Balsamic Syrup

For some unexplainable reason I've had the combo of fresh strawberries, balsamic vinegar, and goat cheese stuck in my head for the past few weeks.  I see the bounty of (on sale!) strawberries at the grocery store and I just want to make a "Sarah salad": spinach leaves with goat cheese and a balsamic vinaigrette with fruit thrown in for good measure.  And balsamic macerated strawberries over tangy goat cheese.  I think it's just a beautiful combination that everyone needs to experiment with, including myself.  And my latest experiment?  Strawberry cupcakes with goat cheese frosting and a balsamic syrup to drizzle over the top.

Still here?  Okay good, I thought I might scare some of you away.  I am a big believer in mixing savory with sweet for desserts.  It adds an unexpected twist and makes me feel like I'm on Chopped or Iron Chef.  I'll admit, as a resident of a city who loves cupcakes I rarely make my own.  I've got Georgetown Cupcake (original store patron, I used to get free cupcakes and champagne on Thursdays from the boutique next store!), newly added Sprinkles, Hello Cupcake, a food truck devoted to cupcakes, my favorite Baked and Wired, and so many more!  But I couldn't get this idea out of my head, cupcake shops be damned!  I needed to make it!

And you know what?  Worth it.  I should really listen to myself more often!  In the spirit of DC cupcakes, I added lemon zest to a Sprinkles recipe.  The egg white heavy batter ends up giving you an impossibly light yet moist cupcake that I don't think I've ever really noticed at the store (bad food kid!).  I topped with my goat cheese frosting and a strawberry balsamic syrup.  The syrup is much easier to manage if you let it simmer instead of bubbling at the beginning of cooking; boiling balsamic is like culinary napalm to the nostrils but a slow simmer controls the release of the smell and protects your stove from sticky splatter.

The binding factor in all of the parts?  Food processor buzzed up strawberry puree!  Some in the cake, some in the frosting for color and flavor, and to temper the acidity in the balsamic syrup.  The finished product is a gorgeous cupcake that would rival any of the cupcake bakeries, even in my town!

Roasted Duck Leg with Pomegranate Cherry Glaze

I have days where I need to clean everything in my apartment.  When I will not be satisfied until everything is in its place because I am convinced that having nothing to clean will make me more productive.  And with two major assignments coming up, today was one of those days.  When I got to the freezer, I found a duck leg I had frozen from a month ago and a bag of frozen cherries.  That got my mind working to create a decadent glaze for a slow roasted duck, the perfect complement to the dark meat in the leg.

The whole process will take about 2 hours but it is worth it!  Once I had trimmed, pierced the fat layer, and thrown the duck in the oven I started my glaze.  The glaze reduced for about 30 minutes over low heat and was cooled before coating the duck for the last 15 minutes of cooking.  The glaze consisted of pomegranate juice, frozen pitted cherries, and balsamic vinegar balanced with dijon mustard and fresh thyme.  I used the trimmings from the duck leg to saute shallots and cherry tomatoes as a quick side.  The acid in the tomatoes cuts the fat in the duck and was a surprising compliment to the glaze.

Sometimes, you just need to treat yourself.  And this meal was definitely a treat!

Poached Salmon with Balsamic Onion and Mushroom Sauce

I felt like getting a little gourmet after my adventures in pantry raiding, so I picked up mushrooms and one-person suitable slice of salmon after work to inspire myself.  I had Top Chef Masters on while putting away groceries and Traci Des Jardins inspired me with her brown butter balsamic vinaigrette.  I decided to try to poach my fish in a sauce that had some of those flavors and then make a reduced sauce to drizzle over the fish.