Ingredients
1 teaspoon saffron threads
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
5 cups sliced onions (about 1 1/4 pounds)
1 bay leaf
1 chile de árbol, crumbled
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preparation
Step 1
Toast the saffron threads in a small pan over medium heat until they just dry and become brittle. Be careful not to burn the precious saffron. Pound the saffron in a mortar to a fine powder. Dab a tablespoon of the butter into the powder, using the butter to pick up the saffron.
Step 2
Heat a large sauté pan or Dutch oven over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add the olive oil, remaining butter, and saffron. When the butter foams, add the onions, bay leaf, chile, thyme, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and some pepper. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, as the onions wilt. Turn the heat down to low, and cook another 20 minutes, stirring every now and then, until the onions are soft and sweet. Taste for seasoning.
Sunday Suppers at Lucques
[by Suzanne Goin with Teri Gelber. Copyright © 2005 by Suzanne Goin. Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved..
Suzanne Goin graduated from Brown University. She was named Best Creative Chef by Boston magazine in 1994, one of the Best New Chefs by Food & Wine in 1999, and was nominated for a James Beard Award in 2003, 2004, and 2005. She and her business partner, Caroline Styne, also run the restaurant A.O.C. in Los Angeles, where Goin lives with her husband, David Lentz.
Teri Gelber is a food writer and public-radio producer living in Los Angeles.
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