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SMOTHERED ONIONS SAUCE
Serves 4 to 6
The sweet pungency of onion is the whole story of this sauce. To draw out
its character, the onion is first stewed very slowly for almost an hour,
until it is meltingly soft and sweet. Then it is browned to bring its flavor
to a sharper, livelier edge.
If you have no problems in using lard, it will considerably enrich the sauce.
You may, however, use butter as a substitute.
Either 2 tablespoons lard or 2 tablespoons butter with 2 tablespoons extra
virgin olive oil
1 1/2 pounds onion, sliced very thin, about 6 cups
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoon chopped parsley
1/3 cup freshly grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
1 to 1 1/2 pounds pasta
Recommended pasta: Spaghetti is excellent choice, but an even better one
may be homemade tonnarelli (square spaghetti). This is a rather dense sauce
and if using homemade pasta, which is more absorbent than spaghetti, you
should start with 1/2 tablespoon more lard or 1 tablespoon more butter when
making the sauce.
1. Put the lard or butter and olive oil, and the onions with some salt in
a large sauté pan. Cover and turn heat to very low. Cook for almost
an hour until the onions become very soft.
2. Uncover the pan, raise the heat to medium high, and cook the onions until
they become colored a deep, dark gold. Any liquid the onions may have shed
must now boil away.
3. Add liberal grindings of pepper. Taste and correct for salt. Bear in
mind that onions become very sweet when cooked in this manner and need an
adequate amount of seasoning. Add the wine, turn the heat up, and stir
frequently while the wine bubbles away. Add the parsely, stir thoroughly,
and take off heat.
Ahead-of-time note : You can cook the sauce entirely in advance up to the
point where you add the parsley. When you are nearly ready to toss with
the pasta, reheat the sauce over medium heat and add the parsely just before
draining the pasta.
4. Toss with cooked drained pasta, adding the grated Parmesan. As you toss,
separate the onion strands somewhat to distribute them as much as possible
throughout the pasta. Serve immediately.
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