Oil-free onion butter

I´ve been enviously watching my boyfriend making (already twice) a lovely onion butter, using recipes from Jessica Porter and Aveline Kushi, which both contain some amount of oil. Luckily, I found out that you don´t actually need any oil to make this yummy spread for your bread or rice cakes!! It´s soooo simple…it does take some time though so be sure you make the butter on a day when you are able to keep an eye on the stove for a couple of hours…

All you need to do is peel a couple of onions (I used nearly 4 larger onions, mostly red ones which are sweeter) and slice them thinly into half moons (you can still chop them up smaller, but I think it´s not important). Sautee them in a heavy stainless steel pot for a few minutes on a medium flame, on water covering them up until about one half of the layer. Add a generous pinch of salt, cover with a tight fitting lid, place pot on a flame tamer, lower the flame to the minimum and then just simmer….and simmer…and once in a while check they´re not burning (but avoid lifting the lid often or too much water will evaporate! the best is to have a glass lid). You can of course add water if needed but the onion comes out better if it´s as dry as possible – mine got all thick and gooey and caramel-y at the end 😀 I cooked mine for 4 hours, but 3 might do the trick…You can basically cook them really really long but it depends on your flame, flame tamer, water level, salt, onions etc. Anyway, you should end up with something fragrant and spreadable 😀

Let cool and store in a glass jar in the fridge.