Apples and Onions -- One of My Most Favorite Recipes

I reserve the last post of the year for one of my most favorite recipes.  This is my 13th year of food blogging (!), and I struggled to decide what to write about.  I have favorites, but which one should I pick?  One day I realized that a very quiet favorite -- one that I cook often but really don't think about much -- was a side dish that was both versatile and historical:  apples and onions.

Versatile:  I use it as a side dish to a main course such as baked chicken, a robust stew, or grilled salmon. It is fabulous with pork.  It is wonderfully supportive because it adds sweet, tart, and savory notes, depending on the ingredients you choose.  But it is also a good side dish for breakfast foods, such as French toast, pancakes, or omelets.  It adds the same notes but its overall flavor profile can be adjusted according to the spices and their ratios.

Historical:  I keep finding recipes or references to it in a variety of cultures over a wide span of time periods.  It seems that if a culture has both apples and onions available to it, it has discovered how wonderful the combination is.  The main differences are which spices are utilized.  In other words, once people taste it, they like it, and they pass that information to future generations.

The quantities I choose depend on my use.  My questions are:

Do I want more apple than onion?  Or more onion than apple?  Or a balance of their flavors?

I typically use spices such as black pepper, cinnamon, and salt.  Sometimes I throw in saffron or nutmeg or ginger or cardamom, depending on my mood and goal for the meal.  So I also ask:

Do I want it leaning towards savory or sweet?  

What are the spices used in the rest of the meal?

The answers direct the ratios.  Savory means more black pepper than cinnamon; sweet means more cinnamon than pepper.  Use both, as they complement each other well as I have learned from cooking medieval English recipes.  I might also include some herbs.

Another choice I make is about the fat used to cook the apples and onions.  Olive oil works well for the savory direction and butter for the sweet direction.  

I also decide how I want to cut up the apples and onions.  Do I want chunks or thin slices?  Often I will chunk the apples and thinly slice the onions, so I get a contrast of shapes.

The final decision is the type of apple:  a tart cooking apple really contributes a tang to the final dish, which goes well with savory meats and sweet breakfast breads.  But an eating apple that stays firm when cooked adds more sweetness, and that can be lovely, too.

I made it for this blog with the idea it would be a side dish to a main course of baked chicken.  I had very tart cooking apples and brown (yellow) onions.  I used black pepper and cinnamon in equal measure and salt to support them.  And I used olive oil.

Apples and Onions

2 tart apples

1 small yellow onion

1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon or less of olive oil

Peel and then thinly slice the onion.

Heat olive oil in a fry pan.

Add the onion and slowly saute it.

In the meantime, quarter and core the apple.  Cut into bite-sized chunks.

Add to the onions.  Mix well.

Saute apples and onions together, stirring occasionally.  If it looks dry, add a splash of water.  If you are in a hurry, put a lid on the pan to steam the apples, which cooks them quickly.

Stir in the spices (to taste).  Cook a little while longer to allow the spices to flavor the dish.

Taste and adjust spices as desired.  Serve hot.  (Also good reheated.)

My Notes

Well, most of my notes are written before the recipe.  When to add the apples?  When the onions are almost cooked to where you want them.  Do you want them transparent?  Browned?  Your choice!

How long to cook the whole thing?  Until the apples are tender.  Or further, if you want the spices to really infuse.

The spice range is to your taste.  I used the upper values for the pepper and cinnamon.

This quantity is good for 2 to 4 people.

Thinly sliced.

Chunks.  Leave the peel on!

Apples and onions cooking together.

With the spices just added.

Done!

The Verdict

This is always good.  I've been known to eat it as a meal in itself.  

My guest taster thought the spices were just right.  I thought that maybe they would be too strong for people not used to them.  Use your good judgement.

Success!

And cheers to the end of 2024.