This simple yet complex side dish is typical to traditional Sephardic cooking: very few ingredients and seasonings, slowly cooked and caramelized in the oven, creating a fragrant and tasty dish.
Granted, this is not a dish you would quickly make, but if you’re home on a cold winter’s day, just place it in the oven and wait for the wonderful results.
The naturally sweet pearl onions’ flavor is enhanced by the “Dulce Y Agro” (sweet and sour) sauce, which is subtle and not as bold as the more familiar Asian sweet and sour sauce, as it relies on tomato paste and lemon for acidity and on a bit of sugar for the sweetness. The finished dish has wonderful deep color and a concentrated sweet-sour-salty-caramelized flavor.
The onions are perfect as a warm side dish with roasted meats, chicken or fish. They can also be used at room temperature as a crostini or sandwich condiment, with cheeses or cold cuts.
A few notes:
* Soaking the pearl onions in boiling water makes peeling them much easier. I highly recommend not skipping this step.
* If you can’t find fresh pearl onions, frozen peeled pearl onions can be used. However, the onion flavor will be less pronounced, the texture will be softer, and they most likely will not keep their shape as shown here.
* The dish can be made a few days in advance and kept in the fridge, in an air-tight container. Bring to room temperature and reheat very gently, so that the onions keep their shape.
More information about Sephardic cooking can be found in THIS POST.
Makes: 4-6
Soaking time: 15 minutes
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 1 ½ hours
Ingredients:
10 oz (285 grams) gold pearl onions
3 Tbs tomato paste
1 Tbs brown sugar
1 tsp salt
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 cups water
1 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1 Tbs light olive oil
1. Place the pearl onions in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let cool to room temperature and peel carefully, keeping the onions whole. Place the onions in a wide pot, in one layer.
2. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and pour into the pot.
3. Bring to a gentle boil. Lower the heat to medium and cook for 3 minutes. Lower the heat to medium-low, cover the pot and cook for 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
4. Preheat the oven to 320F (160C). Place the covered pot in it and bake for 1 hour. Uncover the pot and keep on baking for half an hour, or until most of the liquids have evaporated, and the onions are caramelized and soft, but still keep their shape. Serve warm.
Oh. My. God. They look amazing!!!! That last photo, wow!
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Thank you Elaine! So nice to hear! 🙂
I think that if you’ll replace the sugar with honey, this dish could work well for you. 🙂
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Ooh fab idea, thank you 🙂
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Can I just ask: what does Sephardic mean?
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Sephardic is a term used to describe Jews who are from Spanish origins. You can find more information about it in this post: https://ronitpenso.wordpress.com/2013/04/07/bamiya-con-tomate-okra-sephardic-style/
Which, come to think of it, is also perfect for your dietary restrictions. 🙂
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How interesting, thank you so much 🙂
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MacYummy! I have several red onions . . . would they be too strong?
Virtual hugs,
Judie
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Never tried it with red onions, but I guess they will produce a much stronger flavor. I prefer the pearl onions for their subtle flavor and their shape.
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I used them yesterday on an ad hoc pizza made on tortillas (an experiment!), but I sautéed them first. They weren’t at all strong after having been cooked. I may give it a try.
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Could work after all! I’ll be happy to hear about the results. 🙂
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A lovely recipe. I cant wait to try it
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Thank you Philip. 🙂
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Hmmmm yummy! And what a lovely picture of these onions Ronit! 🙂
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Than you Marta! 🙂
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I imagine the aroma in the kitchen is intoxicating from the roasting… yummy. A huge thank you for the peeling tip…I never knew that one! I had given up on the fresh variety due to frustration. Time to toss the frozen ones. 😉
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Thank you Nancy! 🙂
The aroma is indeed wonderful! 🙂
I’m glad you’ve found the tip helpful. The frozen ones are fine for many dishes, but for this one it’s really best to go with the fresh.
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I was never a big fan of pearl onions – but I think I will become a BIG FAN now!! Great post, as always!! (I’m gonna read ‘about Shephardic Cooking’ – I know it’ll be very interesting.)
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Thank you Cecile!
I’m glad the post changed your mind about pearl onions. 🙂
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Oooh! Just yesterday I was cleaning out and organizing my freezer and thinking that I have to do something with the pearl onions in there. Mine were bought frozen. I think I will have to try this recipe, they look so perfect!
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As I said, it’s not going to be the same result with frozen, but it would still be quite tasty. I hope you’ll enjoy the results. 🙂
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I’m willing to give it a go…as long as I have them.:) We have to deal with a lot of frozen food here in Minnesota in the winter, a lot of the fresh produce is just fine, but some is lackluster and expensive.
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Of course sometime the frozen food is really not a bad option. In quite a few cases it has even better nutritional value than vegetables that traveled forever…
The texture can be different, but as long as it’s tasty, we can live with that… 🙂
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Those are good points, but winter can be a sad, sad time of year for me!
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After living in Vermont for a few years, I can definitely understand that…
Hang in there! 🙂
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Looks so delicious 🙂
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Thank you! 🙂
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Oh my word! It looks delicious!!
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Thank you Aletta. I’m glad to hear! 🙂
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If i cant get these little onions, do you think i could use shallots?
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I’ve never tried it with Shallots, but I think it could work, though the flavor will be a bit different obviously.
Another option is to cut off the green part of spring onions and use the white bulbs, provided they are about the size of pearl onions.
Good luck! 🙂
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Okay, thank you, I’ll let you know how I get on x
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This is a favorite side dish I often serve around the holidays or special occasions. I cheat and buy the onions already peeled! Great photos and recipe – I need to make these soon 🙂
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Yes, it is a special dish indeed, definitely suitable for special occasions.
I wonder if your recipe is the same or has some interesting twist to it?
If I could buy the fresh onions already peeled, I would cheat too! 🙂
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Hi – I did look at my recipes (Glazed Pearl Onions Two Ways) and they are different. I love the addition of tomato paste and lemon juice in your recipe. I have printed your recipe and will make it soon I hope 🙂
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Glazed pearl onions are also wonderful and they are also great pickled.
Tomato puree is added to many Sephardic dishes and I think here it adds a lot. I hope you’ll try and enjoy the results. 🙂
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Have seen this done with green beans before, but never thought about onions. Makes perfect sense–the flavors would meld perfectly. Mmmmmm…..
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Thank you Liz! 🙂
The pearl onions this way is a real favorite.
Same method works great with okra as well: https://ronitpenso.wordpress.com/2013/04/07/bamiya-con-tomate-okra-sephardic-style/
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This is a superb onion dish/side. I love to think of recipes I can use them in. Do you have any posted? Yum!
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Thanks Fae. I’m glad you liked the recipe. 🙂
So far it’s the only pearl onions recipe I’ve posted. I hope to post more later on.
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Looks yummy! will have to try this one…. Another pearl onion dish, I love is Onion Sambhar! Just add some daal and tamarind juice and spices…
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Thank you Ish. 🙂
I love the idea of adding tamarind! I will look for the recipe.
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A simple recipe of pearl onions sambhar… would be to cook about 1 cup of toor dal in a pressure cooker or masoor daal (pink lentils) in a stockpot/ and adding your pearl onions just the way you cooked them with tomatoes and brown sugar to the cooked dal. Adding a teaspoon of tamarind paste and a tablespoon of MTR sambhar powder (the powder and the daal is available in a lot Indian stores online such as Ishopindian.com).. Although I do make my own too.. will post it in blog sometime 🙂
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Thank you so much Ish, for this lovely recipe! I’ll check out about the powder and I’m looking forward to see your recipe. 🙂
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Mmmmh, they sound wonderful (and look it too), I adore Sephardic food and could eat the whole lot. Now, I am going to look at your okra recipe. N xx
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Thank yo Nicole! 🙂
I’m glad you liked the recipe. It is one of those “simple yet sophisticated” dishes. I personally can’t have enough of it. 🙂
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