Caramelized Onions with Goat Cheese

While working at Dali Restaurant, I discovered my love for Spanish food. (Let's be honest-I pretty much love all food...I just learned what Spanish food actually was while at Dali). Many of my recipes draw inspiration from or are my interpretation of their tapas.

One favorite tapa was "queso rebozado con miel," caramelized honey-onions with lightly fried goat cheese balls. The sweetness of the onions complimented the bitterness of the goat cheese. A glass of sangria or dry red wine is the perfect finishing touch.

Ingredients:
2 large onions
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
6 ounces fresh goat cheese
Panko bread crumbs
Olive oil

Wash and peel onions, cutting away the top/root sections. Slice in half (top to bottom) and slice onion halves into long, thin strips.

Melt butter in large saute pan over medium heat. Add onions and brown sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally about 5-10 minutes, or until onions are soft. Turn heat to medium low, stirring occasionally, cook 30-45 minutes, until golden brown. Check every 5 minutes of so to stir, and to make sure onions are not cooking too fast (you want them to slowly caramelize-not burn!).

Remove saute pan from heat.

Form small goat cheese balls, about 1 inch in diameter. Press in Panko bread crumbs and flatten slightly.

Heat up olive oil in clean saute pan over medium heat. Add goat cheese patties, cooking about 2 minutes on each side, or until golden (if they start to brown, take pan off heat and cool down a bit to medium low).

Cover small plate with caramelized onions. Top with 2 or 3 goat cheese patties. Enjoy!


(I ate my perfect Panko-covered patties...these are sans bread crumbs)