It’s the season of onions and basil, especially if you are a gardener.  While fresh basil is usually available year-round in grocery stores, it is never as good as the very fresh leaves from your garden.  Now that I have an abundance from my garden I make basil oil every few days so there’s always some in the fridge. If you don’t have basil plants, support your local farmers market where you should be able to find it.

The basil oil recipe was posted last year and you can find it here.  If you have that already made this onion topping recipe can be made very quickly.

And on the topic of onions–don’t neglect them!  They are relatively inexpensive and store well so it makes sense to always keep them on hand.  If you have them in the garden they are likely ready to start harvesting.  Because they are so flavorful, onions can jazz up lots of other vegetables.  The other night I made this onion recipe to use as a topping on gluten-free pizza.  I spread some of the basil oil on the fresh-from-the-oven baked crust and then topped with these onions plus some pitted olives.  If you eat dairy, it would be delicious to put grated cheese over the basil oil and then top with the onions–just put it under the broiler for a few minutes to melt the cheese if desired.  Other options for the onions besides pizza are steamed green beans, broccoli, or cauliflower.  Of course, they would be good with the basil oil on pasta and I’ve done this with organic brown rice fettuccine.

 

Serves 2

1 cup chopped yellow onion

2 tsp. basil oil

 

Place the chopped onions in a baking tray (about 8 x 10-inch size).  Add the basil oil and stir until onions are coated. Spread the coated onions in a thin layer over the surface of the pan.   Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes or so.  Serve immediately.