Orange-Flavored Onion Confit

Makes 8 half-pint preserving jars

This is a basic confit of onion which can be flavored with a variety of seasonings and used as a condiment in many dishes.

This particular orange-flavored onion confit recipe is my adaptation of a recipe that I learned from Gordon Drysdale, the chef at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) Cafe for a similar jam. He uses blood oranges and only in a small quantities, so the orange flavor of his jam is very mild and reddish in color. I found that Valencia oranges work just as well and that using much more juice and zest than he uses brings out a stronger orange flavor and orange color that can stand up in any sandwich combination.

Because this is a time-consuming recipe to cook, you should think about making it in large quantities and putting it up in vacuum-sealed preserving jars. It makes a great house present and it's wonderful to have in your "larder" to use on sandwiches when you have any kind of leftover grilled chicken, meat or fish.

Instead of orange flavor, you might also try making this onion confit using cassis, red wine vinegar, sugar and thyme. This version is great as a pizza topping combined with Gorgonzola and walnuts and on any kind pasta dish (without tomato sauce). The preparation method is exactly the same. Vary the proportions of cassis, red wine vinegar and sugar to your taste.

Preparation:

15 medium size yellow onions
6 small - medium Valencia oranges, zested and juiced
ž cup sugar
Dash of sea salt
5 TBS. olive oil (have more on hand to add if necessary)

Thinly slice onions from top to bottom (do not cut into cross-section rounds). The fine slicing blade of the Cuisinart works well, especially for large quantities.

In a very large frying pan, heat the olive oil and add all of the sliced onions. Stir until onions start to color. (Add more olive oil if the onions seem to be steaming rather than browning.) This step will take about 40-60 minutes.

When the onions have sweat out most of their water and started to color a little, add the sugar and continue to stir constantly over medium heat until onions develop a little more color. This step will take another 30-40 minutes.

When onions have developed the color you want, add the orange juice and continue to cook over moderately high heat until most of juice has evaporated (about 10-15 minutes).

When the confit has reached the consistency you want, add orange zest and remove from heat. Add salt to taste.

Serving:

Use as a condiment spread on any type of sandwich. We make focaccia to use as sandwich bread. Great combos on focaccia:

Honey Smoked Ham, Sweet Mustard and Mustard Greens

Grilled or Smoked Chicken, Garlic Mayonnaise (Aďoli) and Arugula

Grilled Salmon, Sliced Red or Yellow Tomatoes, Garlic Mayonnaise, Shredded Fresh Basil

Roasted Pork, Sweet Mustard and Red Leaf Lettuce

Notes:

Confit: Most people tend to think of confit mainly in the context of "duck confit". But a confit is any type of food which is cooked for a long time to help preserve it. Confits can be sweet as in fruit jams ("confitures") cooked with sugar; acid as in tomato confit cooked with vinegar; and oily as in duck confit preserved with duck (or goose fat). "Confit" derives from the French word "confire" which simply means "to preserve".
Color: Using high heat in the beginning will help to drive off all the water in the onions. For this quantity of onions, there will be an amazing amount of water and it will take about 30-40 minutes of cooking at moderately high heat to evaporate all the water. There is very little danger of scorching the onions while the water evaporating. But as they start getting dry, you must stir constantly to prevent scorching. Add more olive oil at this point if the onions seem to be too dry. Even one small bit of scorched onion will give the entire batch a bitter flavor.
I prefer not to let onions darken as much as Gordon Drysdale's original recipe. If the onions remain a light golden brown, the color from oranges will come through and give the jam a nice orange glow.
Sugar: Similar recipes that call for browning onions (i.e. for French onion soup) add the sugar near the beginning of the cooking and rely on the caramelization of the sugar to give the onions a golden brown flavor. In this recipe, the sugar is added at about 2/3's way through the cooking to for flavor after the onions have already begun to turn golden brown. The onions reach a golden brown color through continuous stirring over a moderately high heat without sugar.
Smoked Chicken: We use Hoffman Gamebirds smoked chickens.
Preserving: Handle this as you do any jam. It will keep at least 9 months if sealed properly and stored in a cool, dry place: while it is still hot, put into sterilized jars and secure the rubber seal top. Process in a hot water bath for 5 minutes.
Focaccia: If you need a good focaccia recipe, drop me an e-mail and I'll send you the one I like to use. It is based on a recipe by Chef Robert Hellstrom of Kuleto's Restaurant in San Francisco but I have made some modifications. It only takes a few hours from beginning to end. So if you start by 3:00 PM on Sunday afternoon, you can have fresh focaccia for a light Sunday Supper sandwich by 7:00 PM. This focaccia freezes well (if there's any leftover!!).