Sweet Red Onion Chutney

I got inspired to make this when Tony made it, I made a few changes to the recipe, well to be honest I didn't even see his recipe, but it has been so tasty and nothing could beat putting this on top of a nice steak or with some pork chops!

Ingredients

• 2kg red onions or regular onions
• 4 garlic cloves
• 140g butter
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 140g golden caster sugar
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
• 350 ml red wine
• 350 ml caramelised balsamic vinegar
• 100ml port

Method

1.       Halve and thinly slice the onions, then thinly slice the garlic. Melt the butter with the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan (I found a cast iron pot works best but any heave base will do) over a high heat. Tip in the onions and garlic and give them a good stir until soft and translucent.  Sprinkle over the sugar, thyme leaves and some salt and pepper. Give everything another really good stir and reduce the heat slightly. Cook uncovered for 40-50 minutes, stirring occasionally. The onions are ready when all their juices have evaporated.  They should be so soft that they break when pressed against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon. Slow cooking is the secret of really soft and sticky onions, so don't rush this part.

2.       Pour in the wine, balsamic and port and simmer everything, still uncovered, over a high heat for 25-30 minutes, stirring every so often until the onions look quite dark and the liquid has reduced by about two-thirds. It's done when drawing a spoon across the bottom of the pan clears a path that fills rapidly with syrupy juice. Leave the onions to cool in the pan and then scoop into sterilised jars and seal.  Can be eaten straight away, but keeps in the fridge for up to 3 months.

Tips:  Reducing even more will make the chutney more like a jam.  If you want it really sticky add a bit more sugar, maybe 200g and reduce until when you scrape the bottom it stays parted for a few seconds.

You could also look at splitting the balsamic to half balsamic and half white wine vinegar, I used a white wine liqueur vinegar in mine and it was fantastic, this can be hard to get hold of though and is not cheap!

Ant