Crostini with Onion Confit and Petit Basque Cheese
Onion confit is just onions, cooked long and gently, seasoned with a bit of balsamic vinegar and salt. That’s it. But during hours of simmering, the onions turn caramel-gold and their flavor changes from sharp and pungent to rich and sweet. It’s ridiculously simple to make, provided you have a heavy pan with a tightly-fitting cover (une cocotte!), and a few hours to let the onions reduce to a thick jam. Smear the jam on garlicky crostini and top with a thin shaving of nutty Petit Basque cheese to create an inspired appetizer — or snack!
— 6 servings
*Items marked in green are available from The Gourmet Corner.
Ingredients
- 8 large onions, thinly sliced
- 2 Tbs olive oil
- 1-2 tsp balsamic vinegar, or to taste
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- A chunk of Petit Basque cheese or other firm, nutty cheese, rind removed
- 1 baguette, sweet or sourdough
- 1-2 cloves garlic
Onion Confit
Place onions and oil in a heavy pan with a tight-fitting lid (an enameled cast-iron cocotte is perfect for this). Sauté over medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring, until lightly browned.
Reduce heat to the lowest it will go and cover the pan. Cook onions 3-4 hours, stirring every half hour or so, until they have turned into a rich golden-brown mass. For the first hour or so, keep a close eye on the onions until you have a feeling for how fast they are cooking — depending on how heavy your pan is and how low your stove burner can go, you may have to stir them more or less often than 20 minutes. Stir thoroughly, mixing the browned layer of onions on the bottom back into the mass.
Keep a bowl beside the onion pot for condensation — when you lift the lid to stir the onions, lift it straight up so the accumulated condensation doesn’t fall back into the onions. Move the lid over the drip bowl, then tip it sideways to allow the condensation to run off into the bowl. If the onions look soupy when you remove the lid, allow them to cook uncovered for a few minutes until the excess liquid has evaporated.
When the onions have reduced into a thick, golden-brown paste, remove from heat. Add the balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. At this point the onion confit can be stored for 4-5 days in the refrigerator until needed.
Crostini
Pre-heat oven to 375°F. Slice the baguette 1/4 inch thick. Lightly brush both sides of slices with olive oil (if you have one, this is an excellent use for an oil mister) and arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet.
Bake until crusty and brown, about 10 to 12 minutes, turning once halfway through cooking. Allow to cool.
Peel 1-2 cloves of garlic. Gently rub one side of each crostini with a garlic clove. Store crostini in an airtight container until needed.
Assembling the Crostini
Use a swivel-blade vegetable peeler to make thin shavings from the chunk of Petit Basque.
Spread crostini with the onion confit, then top with a shard of cheese. Serve immediately; the onion confit will make the crostini soggy if they stand for too long.
Tags: cheese, crostini, onions, Petit Basque
November 7th, 2010 at 11:07 pm
OK, I don’t cook much. I mean, I cook every day, but not gourmet. But I’ve had a wonderful appertizer similar to this in a Bistro near my house, so wanted to try making the recipe. Wow, I managed it just fine and it was yummy! The left-over onion jam we had in an Omlette the next day with more cheese shaved over it — also yummy! Please keep posting some simple recipes, the really complex ones are a little scary to the not-expert cook.