Every time I try to melt onions I think of Micheline Gill. Micheline has been one of our best friends since we have moved to Vancouver. Over the years she has given us, especially Yoshie, the kind of deep spiritual support that only an older person can provide. In part it is her love of life that has moved us and taught us. In her 80s she can stay up drinking, talking and dancing until well after midnight. And as the night ages she becomes more graceful with it.
One of our most treasured things is a piece of needle work, lace actually, half finished, still on its pencilled pattern, that Micheline inherited from her own grandmother. What is it about our aesthetic that wants things incomplete? No doubt part of it is the opening of space (ma no torikata in Japanese). And them there is the potential that something incomplete has - not final, not ended. I think of this each time I see the tattered lace on its yellowed paper, and think of things to come, even if they have been left in the past.
Micheline is one of the best cooks we know, and one of the things she does better than anyone is onions. Her onion tarts, compotes, sauces, whatever are smooth, rich and sweet and just onion. If Yoshie is the kami-sama of tomatoes then Micheline rules over onions. Not surprizing I suppose, as she is originally from Belgium and came to Vancouver with her husband Jimmy (who we still miss) after WWII. And people in Belgium know their onions.
To melt onions all one really needs is good yellow onions, some oil, some butter, some salt, a knife and time. Mostly time. Slice the onions into rings paper thin. Soak them in ice cold water, dry and sprinkle with lots of salt. In a pan melt butter and stir in olive oil under low, low heat. As low as you can get and still melt the butter. Then stir in the onions and let them cook. This will take at least an hour. The onions will soften, become transparent, then slowly turn a softer yellow white. At the end, if you like, though it is hardly necessary, bring up the heat to medium and add some white wine (I am drinking a cheap Spanish Rioja from 100% Viura grapes as I write). Use on steaks, with scallops, spread on toast ... Onions are basically good things.
Onions are such good things that it is good to have several ways to prepare them (and of course red or white onions are good sliced thin and raw into many salads). Another approach we are using a lot in Boston is to cook them over medium low heat on a dry pan. Again, slice them thin, add salt, have the pan a little hotter but still below medium, and dry them until they are almost crispy. This makes a great garnish on any meet or a more robust fish. It is good in salads too.
Onions.
