I freely admit that I am a bit of a control freak. Especially when it come to what goes on in the kitchen or on the table, I prefer to be in charge. At least in my own home.
But there is one thing I’ve learned over the years to let go of. When it comes to doing the grocery shopping, if someone else is willing to get in the car, load up the shopping cart, unload the shopping cart to pay, reload the shopping cart, unload the shopping cart and load it back into the car, drive back home, and then finally unload the car and schlep the stuff to the house, then whatever decisions they make along the way are just fine with me.
Generic brand of scratchy toilet paper? Whole milk instead of skim? Canned chickpeas instead of white beans? It’s all good. Since I am so over any excitement I ever had at filling the house with basics.
There is also an upside to this. Yes, I’m often the recipient of things I don’t really like. But on the other hand, I am just as often pleasantly surprised by cool things I never would have thought of loading into the cart. A quart of pistachio milk? Brilliant! 2 kilo pack of dark chocolate that was on sale? Why not!
So last week, when I asked Domenico to get a kilo of onions I shouldn’t have been surprised that he bypassed the boring bin full of aged yellow onions (what I was expecting) in favor of this magnificent bunch of fresh, red onions.
They were so gorgeous I almost didn’t want to cook them. But cook them I must, since they were fresh and I didn’t want to spoil their goodness by sticking them in the fridge for even a minute.
Since our main course was grilled pork chops that night, these beauties became an easy side dish.
A few herbs from our totally out of control herb garden, some olive oil, and a long slow roast resulted in onions that were fragrant and creamy on the inside, with just the right amount of caramelized goodness at the edges.
Of course you’ve already guessed the moral of this story. If you can get someone else to do the grocery shopping for you, you win in so many different – and delicious – ways. 
roasted red onions
(serves 4 as a side dish)
4 plump, fresh onions*
8 bay leaves, plus about 10 more for the pan
16 sprigs of fresh thyme
olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
salt
pepper
*If you can’t find fresh onions, you can use older ones. But try for a variety that is on the sweet side.
Preheat oven to 350F/ 180C
Cut the green tops off the fresh onions (if using) and set aside for another use.
Slice the onions in half, length wise.
Generously rub the onions with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.
Slip a bay leaf and two sprigs of thyme, into each onion.
Place the extra bay leaves on the bottom of an oven pan just large enough to hold the onions. Place onions on top, and pour in about a half cup water and the wine. Drizzle onions with a bit more olive oil, cover with tin foil and put the pan in the oven.
Keep checking about every 20 minutes, to make sure there is still some liquid in the bottom of the pan. If needed add a bit more wine and/or water. Baste the onions every so often, and take the tin foil off after about 45 minutes.
The onions should take about an hour and a half to cook, and should be nicely browned at the edges.
Serve hot, or room temp.
If you’d like, you can also serve this dish as a first course, by adding a dollop of ricotta or burrata on top. 
This dish sounds delicious! I’m serving pork for my friends this weekend and was trying to think of new side dishes to do alongside it. This recipe has really helped me out, thanks.
These are gorgeous as savoury Tartin topping too!
yum
Those are making my mouth water. They look like the ideal accompaniment to a grilled steak or any meat. Heck, I could eat them alone as a snack.
I am probably one of your dumbest fans! Without having read the article for a fraction of a millisecond I thought the last photo was that of artichoke hearts! Because I come across artichoke hearts so often in restaurants in Rome. These roasted red onions look so good and thanks for the recipe.
CD
Oh dear heaven! I will be spreading this one around to my CSA members. I’ve got 10 acres of onions to sell this year and this recipe will surely help 😀
Thanks! As always… terrific blog to read.
10 acres of onions sounds pretty delicious!
Question;
Do you have a clever way of creating oven cooking on the stove top? My oven is having “issues” so I’m wondering if I could braise the onions on the stove top in some kind of tagine or casserole setup.
You can certainly cook onions on top of the stove, but they won’t be roasted. Sorry!
My husband does the grocery shopping too because I hate to shop. Since it never occurs to him to buy vegetables I do that part at our local food coop on a daily basis, which means that I only have to spend 10 minutes and fill one small, cloth bag. Since I do most of the cooking, I choose a meat from his collection, add my own vegetables and everyone is happy!
That sounds like the perfect arrangement to me!
Well Elizabeth, I was wondering what clever thing you would be doing with the onions! Just as soon as the Farmer’s Market has their delicious “Florentine” onions I will be making this! As some others said, there are so many ways one could serve these!
Ciao, P
I’ve never done onions that way, in halves. I live near Marché Jean-Talon in Montréal so of course I can get beautiful fresh red onions. Grazie!
You can almost grill onions in a cast-iron skillet, but you have to watch them carefully as they contain a lot of natural sugar and can quickly become too burnt.
I have been following yr blog for about a week now and I really do enjoy it, however and don’t hate me, but I must take issue to your reference to “generic scratchy toliet paper”…I have lived in Rome for 35 years and I have not seen that pink scratchy toliet paper around for at least 30 years!!! My generic toliet paper from PAM supermarket is as soft as soft can be…
Made this dish per your recipe last night. Delizioso!
Happy to hear it!
This is a great way to use all types of summer vegetables: eggplants, peppers, leeks, carrots, garlic, tomatoes, squash, etc. I typically don’t add liquid to the pan, just olive oil, course salt and pepper — and then blast them with high heat for about 15-20 minutes. (Around here, time is always in short supply). Before serving, I dress the vegetables with fresh herbs and a light vinaigrette (or when I am a lazy pants, just a little more olive oil!).I will need to try this technique.
Nice to catch up on your blog posts. Always a pleasure.
Do you roast the red onions in your outdoor wood-burning oven? Love the out-of-control herb garden.
If we’ve lit the oven for something else, then yes, we just stick them in. But if it’s only the onions, then I usually use the indoor one, since it seems more efficient.