Last night we had honey goat cheese and caramelized onion pizza for dinner. This is one of my FAVORITE recipes, so if you haven’t tried it, hop to it! Anyway, as I was caramelizing the onions yesterday to prep for the pizza, I was thinking of maybe writing a post about my technique. We had a couple of friends over last night and one of them mentioned that whenever she tries to make caramelized onions, she burns them and it makes her so mad. That sealed the deal…I decided a post was in order!

I have made a few batches of caramelized onions that go the way of burned onions myself. I had tried techniques from reputable sources, but always ended up burning some of the onions. After much trial and error, I finally have the process down and they come out GREAT, not a burned onion to be seen! I am no longer scared of caramelizing onions…yep, I was scared of them before. 😉

Caramelized Onions

 

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Author: Jane Maynard

Ingredients

• 2 onions
• Olive Oil
• Sugar

Instructions

1. Cut off the ends of your onion and remove outer layer. Cut onion in half (so the cut ends are facing out on the sides when you do the cut) and lay the large cut sides down on your cutting surface. Slice onions very thinly, starting from one of the small cut outer edges and going straight across the onion.
2. Heat about 1-2 tablespoons olive oil in a non-stick, wide pan (that has a lid) over medium heat. Add onions. Sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon of sugar. Stir and cook onions until soft. Reduce heat to medium-low. If the pan surface seems a bit dry, add a little bit of olive oil and toss to coat. Put lid on the pan and let onions cook, stirring every 5 minutes or so. Total cook time will be about 20-30 minutes. Go head, do other stuff, just remember to lift the lid and stir periodically. Cook until onions are a nice dark brown color and have reduced in volume significantly.
3. Here is why I do what I do. I like to add a bit of sugar to help with the caramelization. I use a non-stick pan, which has worked better for me than stainless steel. The lid being on the pan during the long cooking portion of the program is key. By keeping the lid on, enough water stays in the pan to keep the onions from drying out and burning. Please note that I don't think this is the traditional way to cook caramelized onions, but I'm a busy mom who can't mess with high-maintenance onions...I need a foolproof way to cook them without burning them and this works for me!
4. Voilà! Caramelized onions!

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Menlo Park Week was oodles of fun for me, but I’m a little happy it’s over so I can finally share this honey goat cheese pizza with you! It’s divine. I can’t take credit for the idea of this pizza…that goes to my dear friend Faye. Yet another reason I’m grateful Faye is in my life.

Here’s why I love this pizza. The sweetness of the goat cheese and the caramelized onions balances perfectly with the saltiness of the parmesan cheese and the salt that you sprinkle on the pizza. And the texture of the mozzarella cheese balances out the goat cheese oh so nicely. It’s perfection on a pizza crust.

Honey Goat Cheese Pizza

 

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Author: Jane Maynard inspired by my friend Faye Stein

Ingredients

• Honey goat cheese from Trader Joe's (If you don't have a TJ's, then I would recommend using regular goat cheese and drizzling some honey over the pizza before baking - you gotta get that sweetness in there. You could even mix some honey in with the goat cheese before putting dabs on the pizza.)
• Caramelized onions
• Fresh mozzarella cheese (or shredded if that's what you have in the fridge, but the fresh is just so yummy)
• Fresh parmesan cheese (sorry, this one has to be fresh, folks)
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• Pizza crust (Obviously! Click here for the recipe I use.)

Instructions

1. Make your crust. When it's ready to be topped, drizzle some olive oil on the crust and spread around with your fingers. Sprinkle salt all over the crust, and a bit of pepper. Top with the caramelized onions, mozzarella cheese and fresh parmesan cheese. Like I mentioned in the ingredients list, if you can't get your hands on the Trader Joe's honey goat cheese - I would just drizzle a bit of honey over the pizza before topping with the cheeses and onions. You could also mix your plain goat cheese with honey before putting dabs of the cheese on the pizza.
2. Bake on a pizza stone at the highest heat your oven can put out until cheese is bubbly and the crust is browned (or bake your pizza how you normally bake it).

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