Red onion bacon marmalade to use up the old 1/2s of red onion that had accumulated in the fridge drawer.
Cook some bacon, toss thinly sliced onion in the fat and sweat until soft. Toss in some sugar, cook until it starts to caramelize. Add red wine, balsamic vinegar and a good pinch of salt, bring to a boil them simmer until almost dry. Good on most things, we had it with lamb chops. Keeps for a month in the fridge, or it can be canned like any jam.
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I do it with some chilli flakes and star anise and cinnamon bark. I don’t actually think you even need sugar. I put in a nearly homeopathic amount of thick brown but onions turn super sweet when you cook them very slowly and the wine and vinegar are both sweet.
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I have always recycled my deep fry oil. This sounds like something I could try next time.
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It works great. I have 2 gallons of oil in my fridge right now that got this treatment.
It does bubble out a little of water when you heat it back up, and you can get a little film of brown gelatin at the bottom of the pan. But it legitimately comes out incredibly clean.
Since I started doing this my oil actually goes bad from hanging in the fridge too long between uses rather than because it’s been used too many times. And it’s easy enough that I’ve stopped tossing oil after a single use. Which I usually ended up doing because it was too much of a pain to strain it out.
You have to scale it to the volume of the container and oil, for the 2 gallons in a big pot I use on my outdoor burner 3 or 4 cups will do. You can mix at the standard recipe on the box of unflavored gelatin. But it’s a little easier to clean up if you mix it a bit stronger. I’ll usually throw in one extra packet/couple extra teaspoons.
You need less gelatin/water in a taller, narrower container.
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last night we had my pinto bean stew.
one pound of dried pinto beans, gone through and rinsed
one medium onion finely chopped
3-4 carrots cut into thin rings, if the diameter of the carrot is greater than 1 inch i slice that part in half lengthwise and slice into semicircles
three stalks of celery cut into 1 cm sections
one clove of garlic, finely minced
one jalapeno pepper, seeds and veins intact, finely chopped (substitute one of your favorite hot peppers as desired)
one-half cup finely chopped fresh parsley
two bay leaves
one teaspoon rubbed sage
one tablespoon paprika
one teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
one teaspoon seasoned salt
one-half teaspoon msg
one-half teaspoon cracked black pepper
one-half teaspoon ground white pepper
one to one-and-one-half pound smoked ham (i used a hormel cure 81 “ready to carve” portion) or smoked ham hock cut into 1 cm cubes
one liter of hot water or pork stock, if available
place all of the above into a slow cooker set on high and stir then cover. stir again when contents begin to boil, re-cover and turn down to low. stir occasionally, about once every 90 minutes, until beans are tender. i serve with homemade cornbread.
2 cups cornmeal
1 cup unbleached flour
4 tsp backing powder
one-half teaspoon salt
one-fourth cup olive oil
2 eggs
enough milk to make a batter that flows easily but is not too loose-- around 300 ml.
pour into well-greased baking dish
medium-hot oven 425 f/220 c
22-26 minutes.
edited to describe the treatment of the ham and for spelling
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That sounds delicious! I can almost smell it from here.
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Wow! So cool one of you food mutants has tried this.
Swell.
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File this next to Mars bars under ‘things that should not be deep-fried’: Marks & Spencer’s Colin the Caterpillar
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Not sure what to call this. Porcini mushrooms, onions, garlic, butter, olive oil, half-and-half, egg, pecorino Romano cheese as the sauce, along with capeli pasta and pasta water. Something in between a simple mushroom sauce and a carbonara.
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Looks like to me you call it tasty dinner.
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It had a unanimous thumb’s up from the peanut gallery. 
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Pasta alla ghiandaia.
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Blue Jay pasta?
My first thought was acorns (ghianda), then I thought maybe acorn shaped shrooms… but no, that’s what they call jays.
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Is It a trend? Bucolic food YouTube channels? I wish I could eat with them.
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looks like “don’t call me late for dinner”!
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Made a great lasagna last night, I wish I’d taken photos. It was a “use up random ingredients” thing, and ended up tasting better than I’d hoped.
For the veggies:
Caramelized about 4 onions, then added 2 cups of frozen peppers and corn, softened, added a little red wine and salt and cooked off the liquid.
For the creamy:
I blended the ricotta with a 10 oz pack of frozen spinach (thawed), some garlic and a bunch of fresh basil from our counter garden.
For the sauce:
Realized that we only have enough tomato sauce for the chili I’m making tonight, so I went with a white sauce. 2 T oil, 3 T flour in the pan, then whisked in 2 C milk. After it thickened I tossed in remnants of a soft blue cheese and some port salut.
Layered everything like normal, topping with a final bit of the veggies and white sauce and a coat of shredded cheddar. Baked on 375 for 35 minutes and it came out perfect and crispy brown on top, and holds together well.
A “winging it” success. I love those.
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Sorry to post twice in a row, but I just read about this amazing Instagram account in the Recomendo newsletter, and the images are something anyone into good food will enjoy:
GastroObscura
I’m no good on insta so can’t figure out to add a couple sample images, but they’re a feast for the eyes.
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