Pickled Onions

We began participating in a produce share group a few months ago.  The way it works is a friend, Michelle, and her husband, Paul, get up at some insane hour before dawn twice a month and go to The Dallas Farmers Market.  Before each shopping trip, Michelle speaks to some vendors about what is in season, fresh, and good.  They go to market, load up the fruits and veggies from the different vendors, take the haul home, and split it up.  A quick check on the produce groups' Facebook page shows 41 members.  Looks like about 15 families participate twice a month.  For $25 we get what feels like 40 pounds of produce every two weeks.  This is a really good deal.  Here is where it gets hinky, I still have my garden and it was onion pulling time a few weeks ago, which coincided with cheap, in season, local onion time.  Between the garden and my produce share, I have onions running out my ears.  I did make baked onion rings, which were very very good.  Recipe to follow. 

Today we went to Twisted Root in Dallas for yummy yummy burgers.  I have mine without the bun = "Burger in a Bowl" to accommodate my special diet needs.  Twisted Root is a really cool resteraunt.  They serve excellent food, have a staff with a great sense of humor, and they are green.  The following is lifted from their website " We r freak’n Green. Everything disposable is biodegradable. Even our cleaning products r Green!"  Check out their website here -> http://twistedrootburgerco.com/wordpress/menu/.   My burger/salad had some nice pickled onions on it.  Hello, I have onions running off of my table and across the kitchen floor.  I should make pickles out of them. 

The recipes I found online suggested using red wine vinegar with a some distilled white vinegar and a little sugar and salt.  I think no problem, I've got that.  Nope, I have several bottles of vinegar - not one of them red wine.  I do, however, have more than one bottle of balsamic vinegar.  Substitution?   The pickled onions I made are tasty, but they are not pretty.  Red wine vinegar made the pickled onions at Twisted Root a nice pink.  My pickled onions are sort of the color of coffee.  Next time, I will use red wine instead of balsamic. 

Recipes

Baked Onion Rings
Thick sliced white and yellow onions
Flour
Bowl of Water
Bowl of milk and egg (equal amounts egg and milk)
Bread Crumbs

Separate the onions into rings and put them in the bowl of water.  Dredge with flour (take them out of the water first ;), dip in egg mixture and then coat with bread crumbs.  Bake at 375 until crispy.  Next time I am going to spray them with a light coat of olive oil. 

Pickled Onions
Slice onions very thin.  (I used red onions)
Place them in a sauce pan and add equal parts red wine vinegar and white vinegar to cover. 
Add a little water
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar. 

Bring this to a boil and remove from heat.  Let sit until onions are soft.  Eat as soon as they are cool enough.  I am going to store them in a covered bowl and use them up fast.  I don't feel like this is a "safe" recipe for canning.  I plan to eat them in fewer than four days.