Red Onion Pickles

Rodgers admits that process of making these pickled onions is "slightly tedious" (three batches cooked three times for 20 seconds at a time and cooled between). But she says the result is onions of a "charismatic fuschia pink" saturated in a fragrant brine without really being cooked. In other words, the onions are pretty and retain a nice crunch.

The process is just tedious enough that I was kind of hoping she was wrong -- but no -- the crunch is still there and, for me, that textural element adds a really nice touch to both the flavor and fragrance of the onions. And they are pretty too. So they are kind of a win for all five senses.

The brine is REALLY fragrant if you lean over the pan while adding/removing the onions -- brought tears to my eyes more than once.

4/6/11 -- I had almost forgotten that these pickles were on a shelf in the fridge until I went to Whole Foods and saw that the champagne mangoes were in. Which reminded me of a mango and red onion salad from Fine Cooking. So -- using that idea as my starting point --- I chopped up some romaine and frisee, added some of the pickles and diced mango,and then -- kind of on a whim -- added some smoked trout. For the dressing I whisked together some of the pickling liquid, some champagne vinegar, about 1/4 tsp. of sugar and some grapeseed oil. It was really delicious and healthy.

Yes, you can call the process of dunking these onions in brine for a few seconds and taking them out a again tedious, or you can call it meditative. I think it's quite doable to spend a few minutes on doing a batch, and then do other things while they cool down, and come back when you have a few more minutes to spare. And the kids loved helping separate the onion rings: when they are a bit older they can help dunking as well.

I did not quite know what to do with the whole spices during this process. They come out with the onions - do I put them back in the brine again? (I did.) Or is it supposed to have infused with the spices enough earlier? (I'll see, sometime.)

The end result is good, very pink, quite sweet, which is enhanced by the spice mix, and still with a bit of crunch.