Blackberry Ginger Balsamic

[osprey_archer]

Last week was a good week in tips, so I decided to treat myself to something from the fancy food store next door - the place with barrels of balsamic vinegar lined up along the walls, and helpful clerks who leap at the chance to let you try as many as you want.

I had been feeling a craving for spinach salad (with bleu cheese and dried cranberries, the only way to spinach salad), so I went in with the idea of getting something that would make a good dressing for that, and walked out with a bottle of blackberry-ginger balsamic and OH MY GOD BEST SALAD DRESSING CHOICE EVER. I want to throw a dinner party solely so I can serve all my friends spinach salad for the first course so they will all be amaaaaaaazed at this vinegar.

The other thing I use balsamic vinegar for is caramelized onions (specifically, deglazing the pan at the end), and this... was less successful. I put them on little French bread pizzas and they were much too sweet & fruity & just odd.

But I didn't want to just throw them all out (do you know how long it takes to make caramelized onions? An hour. Most of it spent lying on the couch reading The Hunger Games [I JUST GOT TO THE BEGINNING OF PART 3 OMG], BUT NONETHELESS an hour, who wants to throw away an hour of work), so I thought about it for a while, and then INSPIRATION STRUCK.

And I bought of wedge of brie and made little open-faced sandwiches with brie & caramelized onions in the oven, and the brie tones down the fruitiness and basically makes everything amaaaaaazing. I had it for dinner last night and I loved it so much I had it again for lunch today.

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, it sounds very nice! And yay for finding a way round the less successful cooking, always a win :-)

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I have started to view cooking mishaps as an exciting challenge, which is probably a sign that my cooking skills are developing. Although possibly if they were developing, I wouldn't be making so many mishaps... Well, mistakes are inevitable when you experiment!

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

OMG, your solution to the blackberry caramelized onions sounds amazing. I am a fan of caramelized onions on basically anything (who isn't?), but in particular the brie and blackberry and ginger sounds fantastic.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

It is AMAZEBALLS and I had it again for dinner tonight. I think I have enough for one more meal of this - maybe two? - it depends how thickly I spread the onions, I suppose...

Now I want to try all their balsamic vinegars. This one purchase has unleashed a monster.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Very fun to read a delicious food post. I'm imagining your open-faced sandwiches and your spinach salad with fancy blackberry-ginger balsamic vinegar laid out on beautiful china, on a table with a beautiful tablecloth, with sunshine streaming in.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

It wasn't quite that fancy, I'm afraid. I def. ate one of the open-faced brie & caramelized onion sandwiches while lying on the couch reading a book. But I guess that's also delightful in its own slightly different way?