Caramelized onions

When we take the I-90 drive home from the Methow Valley, we like to stop off in Wenachee at the produce stands. Eastern Washington has a fabulous cherry crop in this year, and I bought Raniers and the regular red kind. They are enormous and good! John also bought a 10 pound bag of fresh Walla Walla onions. I'm sure you know the reason these are so sweet is the high moisture content, which also means they are very perishable and only keep a few days. What to do with 10 pounds of onions?

I had plenty of laundry to keep me busy at home, so thought I'd cook up a batch of caramelized onions. I started with olive oil and a blob of butter, and slowly, slowly cooked them down-- it took over an hour for all the moisture to cook out (does the house ever smell good) and when they were finally starting to brown I added a bit of Marsala wine, brown sugar and black pepper.

That huge pot of raw onions cooked down to a highly condensed cup or so, and so delicious I could have eaten the whole thing! Although consuming 8 onions before 9 am is probably not a good idea! So I'll show some self-control, and divide them up into baggies for the freezer. I'm thinking of all the things it would be good for: a caramelized onion tart, onion bruschetta, grilled steak, mashed potatoes.