Chipotle-Onion Jam
Author: Pizza Today
Recipe type: sauce
Courtesy of John Gutekanst, Avalanche Pizza, Athens, Ohio
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 large onions cut in vertically, then in half-strips ⅛-inch thick
- 3 chipotle peppers from a small can of chipotle in adobo (found at any grocery)
- ½ cup raisins
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar
Instructions
- In a small lexan place very hot tap water on top of the raisins and let sit for thirty minutes to rehydrate.
- Drain all water when plump.
- Cut the chipotle peppers up fine.
- Add the oil, onions, sugar and peppers to a pizza pan or tray and insert it in your 475 F pizza oven for 12 minutes tossing afterwards and returning for five more minutes until the onions are soft and starting to caramelize.
- Add the balsamic and raisins when hot and let steep in the pan.
- This mix can be ground up using an immersion blender or blender or left chunky. (For more heat, add more chipotle. For an added sweetness, use dried blueberries instead.)
- To caramelize, char or sweat? That is the question. Of the many treatments an onion gets, the three great flavors of sweet, bitter-char and creamy are there for the taking. Caramelization occurs when the sugars from the onion reduce into a thick dark liquid. Many chefs help this by adding Balsamic vinegar or sugars. Charred onions offer a deeper, meatier flavor profile like coffee, steak and nuts. When onions are offered a low temperature atmosphere to sweat and sweat some more, the oils don’t evaporate and the fibers cook away leaving a silky cream.
- This is wonderful to top on aged cheddar, feta and even gorgonzola pizzas. Cream sauce pizzas are great with this jam.
