If you read my blog you will know I adore onions, and this ancient recipe from Bologna dates back to 1886. Its a homage to the onion and once cooked this way they become sweet and unctuous. It’s traditionally served on bruschetta, polenta, cheese or with meat or fish, and it tastes absolutely delicious. I sometimes eat it on my scorched or roasted sourdough (recipe on here) with a sprinkle of chopped parsley and you can add big grating of parmesan if you fancy and a salad for lunch or it’s even delicious with pasta. It would be brilliant on canapés too. You can add pancetta and chilli flakes, however it’s the simplicity of this recipe that makes it magical.

Recipe

Ingredients ( I halved the ingredients and there was still tons)

4 kilograms of white onions

1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

a glug olive oil (it used to be made with a blob of lard)

2 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

Optional chopped parsley

How

Peel, top and tail the onions and cut into thin slices, I slice them up with my mandolin cutter with the radio on.

Put them in a big bowl with the sugar and salt, mix up and leave to rest for two hours.

Then heat up a very large heavy bottomed pan and add the olive oil and onions with any onion juice if there is any. Stir and on a low heat let them cook for two hours with a lid on until they are starting to go brown. Next add the tomatoes and cook very, very gently for another two hours with the lid on. They should be checked on incase they dry out, mine didn’t. There should be in a tiny bit of liquid at the end, but they should be dry enough to spread on bread. Add salt and pepper to taste.

You can serve them hot or at room temperature. Store it in a lidded jar in the fridge for a few days or put batches in the freezer for up to a year.