Balsamic Thyme Whole Roasted Onions

A few weeks ago, I got the opportunity to visit Minkus Farms, a local onion farm as part of the New York State Grown & Certified Program.

Minkus Farms is one of the many New York produce farms joining in on this new program that will be launching in the spring of 2017.

As someone hugely into buying local, in fact, I’d rather buy local than organic any day, I’m really excited about this new program.

With a goal of educating people on the importance of buying local and strengthening confidence in products grown by New York state farmers, it’s something I’m excited to support 100%.

To receive the certification, farms must be inspected for safe food handling and environmental stewardship, and their products must meet the highest quality standards.

In addition, farms and farmers must currently be certified for Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and participate in Agriculture Environmental Management.

It’s a combination of modern food safety standards and environmental stewardship.

The state is both helping consumers by giving an assurance of quality in how and where the food is grown and produced, while also promoting local producers who are meeting these safety and environmental guidelines.

Win, win.

So now when you’re in the store you won’t have to wonder if the produce before you was flown in from 3,000 miles away or not AND you get a guarantee of quality practices both from a safety and environmental standpoint.

Besides learning all there is to know about onions (best tip of the day: mushy, soft “tops” means the onion is likely rotten in the center, pick the dried out ones instead!) and standing in an onion warehouse that resembled the ball pit at gymnastics (or McDonalds play place) just on a 1000x larger scale, we were all sent home with a 10 pound bag of onions to play with.

It was actually hard for me to come up with an idea of what to make with onions that really showcased the onion!

So often, they’re just one of the building blocks of a recipe, not the starring role.

Unless we’re talking about these Mexican stuffed onions – those are a dinner favorite!

Well, these whole roasted onions change that.

While I kept the onions whole and roasted them with the skin on, you can definitely roast onions without the skin and cut them in half or quarters too.

If you make the roasted onions that way you can still use the same seasoning blend this recipe calls for.

Roasting the onions at 400°F (although I’ve gone up to 425°F before too with success) for about an hour in the oven if they’re whole (a little less if you cut them in half and even less if quartering them) will give you a perfectly roasted onion.

Seasoned with just a bit of fresh thyme and balsamic vinegar, the result is a buttery, caramelized, slightly sweet side dish that’s just begging to be served with a nice hunk of meat like this rosemary garlic flank steak or these sticky honey soy pork chops.

The onions practically melt in your mouth with each bite and it’s almost crazy to me that these whole roasted onions are the same vegetable as those disgusting raw translucent slices so many of you put on your sandwiches!

Seems sort of odd to just plop an entire onion on your plate as a side dish but that’s exactly how I’ll be enjoying most of my 10 pound bag now that I have this whole roasted onion recipe!

Probably alongside a simple air fryer Cornish hen for a good Sunday dinner.

I highly suggest you give it a shot too if you find yourself in an onion surplus.

Or, you can always learn how to make caramelized onions and then put them on pretty much any and everything!

Try this Caramelized Peach and Onion Salsa or these Skillet Lamb Chops and Cipollini Onions – both featuring deliciously roasted onions as the star ingredient!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Empire State Development . The opinions and text are all mine.