If you’re a fan of blue cheese, this one’s for you. This unique and easy to prepare pasta from Moosewood Restaurant’s Simple Suppers perfectly combines the sweetness of caramelized onions with pungent blue cheese.
- 1 pound chunky pasta
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 6 cups chopped onions
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup dry white wine, vegetable broth, or water
- 1 cup (4 ounces) of blue cheese
Bring a large covered pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente.
Meanwhile, in a skillet on medium heat, warm the oil and cook the onions with the salt and pepper until soft, golden brown, and lightly caramelized. Add the wine, broth, or water and continue to cook on low heat, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is done. If the onions begin to stick, add some pasta cooking water.
When the pasta is done, drain it, reserving a cup of the hot water. Place the pasta in a serving bowl, add the onions (swirl some of the reserved water around in the skillet to get out every tasty bit) and the blue cheese, and toss together to melt the cheese and coat the pasta. Add more of the pasta cooking water if you’d like it saucier. Serve hot.
Recipe by Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers.
Caramelized onions? The onions in the picture don’t look caramelized at all. Wouldn’t it take 15-20 minutes to caramelize the onions without the presence of salt? Is this a literal translation of the book’s recipe? I’m curious.
Dugout – Trust me, the onions were caramelized and sweet as can be. The recipe was directly copied from the book. If I remember correctly, the first time I executed this recipe the onions took forever to caramelize (much longer than the pasta cook). Back then my stove was electric. This time around using a gas stove, the onions and pasta were ready at the same time just as the book stated. So, as with all recipes, use them as a guide, but don’t abandon your judgment and know-how.
I cook this recipe often. I like it better with spaghetti noodles and in my cookbook it has you had walnuts or pecans, which tastes great. I also caramelize the onions for at least an hour. I’m using regular yellow onions though. It still tastes delicious. I also add butter to the oil when caramelizing. Hope this helps. We grow a lot of onions around here so this recipe is well used.