We’ve all been there: every time you chop onions, your hands smell for hours. Washing them does nothing to get rid of that lingering smell. Top tip: onions can be chopped and preserved in batches. Ever since a young top chef showed me this trick, there’s almost always a jar of chopped onions in my fridge.
I use this as the basic recipe: Finely chop 4 onions and braise them lightly in 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil. Add 100 ml white wine vinegar, 100 ml white wine and ½ teaspoon of salt. Leave to simmer until the liquid is reduced. Pour into a jar. This will keep in the fridge for two to three weeks. The onions can also be flavoured to taste with spices or honey.
I use these flavoured onions for salad dressings and in potato salad. If you add honey or sugar when cooking, you can transform them into a relish to accompany meat.