ONIONS ARE NATURALLY SWEET and cooking them very slowly will cause their natural sugars to caramelise, but adding a hint of icing sugar speeds up the process and gives them a little bit of crunch too. This is an unusual dish, which is a fantastic starter or a good accompaniment to oily fi sh, such as mackerel or sardines, as the mild acidity in the onions and the salty olives cut through their richness
SERVES 4 600g red Tropea onions (or griotte, sweet white or Roscoff onions), peeled and halved lengthways 1 tbsp icing sugar 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1–2 tbsp Red Onion Jam 100g pitted Italian black olives 15g pine nuts, toasted 8g chives, roughly chopped 1 tsp black sesame seeds FOR THE DRESSING 2 tsp mosto cotto (grape must syrup) or balsamic syrup 2 tsp red wine vinegar 4 tsp extra virgin olive oil pinch of sea salt
Place the onions cut-side up on a board and dust with the icing sugar. Leave to one side until the sugar has melted. Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium–high heat. Add the onions, cut-side down, cover with a lid or plate a bit smaller than the size of the pan to press the onions down and cook until the sugar has caramelised and the onions are golden. Remove from the heat and leave the onions in the pan for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a bowl whisk the ingredients for the dresing and put to one side. Separate the onion leaves, transfer to a serving dish and toss with the dressing. Scatter over the black olives and dot the onion jam aroundthe plate. Scatter over the pine nuts, chives and black sesame seeds.
