Amazingly satisfying to make and such a pleasure to eat!
A delicious side for roast pork, chicken or duck; excellent on a canapé bruschetta.
Imagine the warmth of honey and the amber-woodiness of Rooibos in a reduction of balsamic vinegar...
We made this dish on a cold and grey-wet-miserable Cape Winter's afternoon and as we were setting up extra lighting, a late afternoon sunray appeared to add just the right light to the dish of the day!
Grape vinegar, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, liquid glucose, apple & grape fruit concentrate, honey (5%), modified corn starch, rooibos flavour (0,1%), antioxidant: sulphur dioxide, caramel.
Serves 4-6
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
Clean and peel the onions - just trim the root end (we want the petals to stay together) and prepare the garlic.
PRO-TIP: Put the unpeeled onions in a bowl and pour over boiling water - let it soak for ±10 minutes = easy, tear-free peeling!
Cut the small onions in half top to bottom (vertically); cut the big white onions in 6 vertical segments (top to bottom), cut the shallots into 4, side to side (horizontal), cut the garlic bulb in half, side to side (horizontal) and leave the peeled garlic cloves whole.
Melt the butter, add the oils and the Honey & Rooibos Reduction and the star anise.
Pour the liquid over the onions and garlic and jiggle it around a bit so the liquid goes into all the nooks and crannies!
Choose a roasting pan with a lid (or a roasting tray one can cover with foil), that is large enough for the vegetables to comfortably lie in a single, layer (and not be crowded).
Pour the onions and garlic and all the liquid into the roasting pan and spread it out over the bottom of the pan.
Sprinkle with Savoury Salt - a generous pinch will do... Cover the pan and put it in the oven for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, remove the lid and return the pan to the oven for another 30 minutes.
If the onions are starting to caramalise and the liquid is almost gone, turn the oven down to 150° for the rest of the cooking time. If there is still quite a lot of liquid in the pan, turn the heat up to 200° for 15 minutes and then have another look... At the end of the cooking time the vegetables must be meltingly soft and lightly caramelized.
If there is a nice, rich caramel layer in the pan, remove the vegetables to a warm serving dish and deglaze the pan on top of the stove, with a little boiling water and some Honey & Rooibos Reduction - pour this into the serving dish with the vegetables (or add it to the meat gravy). Drizzle a final 'finish' of Honey and Rooibos over the vegetables before serving.
