i agree . it is a tasty and light meal. i have them for supper quite often

Reason # boingjillion: guests think it's fancier than scrambled eggs, when it's actually quicker.

Man, do I love omelets. If you are a freak like me who keeps a dish of caramelized onions in the fridge and stores homemade baguettes in the freezer, then drop-in dinner guests are suitably impressed by the sudden meal... when really all I've given them is eggs and toast. Very satisfying.

Reason # boingjillion +1: for no good reason, having a glass of wine with scrambled eggs makes me feel dissipated (and not in a good way), but with an omelet I just feel Continental.

If you are a freak like me who keeps a dish of caramelized onions in the fridge

Just this week I decided I should add caramelizing onions to the kinds of Sunday tasks I do to prep food for the next week or two...making bread, making pizza dough, making soup stock...why not onions too?

It really does give me such an ace in the hole when a dinner emergency arises. It takes almost as long to caramelize an enormous pan as it does to caramelize just a few. I have an acquaintance (a caterer) who does hers in enormous roasting pans in a slow oven, though I've never tried that.

If I have caramelized onions, olives, and a chunk of cheese around, dinner is a snap. Over the summer, I was also keeping around jars of herb sauce: lots of parsley, a little bit of whatever other herbs I had around (basil, chives, whatever), a few capers, a tiny sliver of garlic, and plenty of lemon and olive oil zipped in the blender for a minute.

That improvised herb sauce was a great way to preserve bunches of herbs that would otherwise go limp in the fridge, and it made dinner look so... intentional. I drizzled it cold over a log of goat cheese, over frittata, over planks of pan-fried potatoes, over bread spread with tapenade. It's sooooo delicious and fresh and green, and made everything look a little bit dressed up.

I'm making an effort these days to keep something like that kicking around for every season: herb sauce or pesto in summer, onion-garlic jam in fall and winter. We'll see what spring brings. Any ideas?

spring? Chive oil, definitely.

oooooooh.

I have tomorrow off, I may have to walk over to the diner around the corner for an omelet tomorrow.

So how long does pre-caramelised onion last in the fridge?

(I'd never thought of pre-doing them...)

I wish my partner did not hate eggs and caramelized onion is so fast and easy it has never occurred to me to pre cook them.

I've been wanted to try caramelizing large quantities of onions and then freezing them ever since I read this blog post, which was in part inspired by an AskMe question.

I'm Theophile Escargot and I approve this post.

The only annoying thing is that I have an electric hob, where setting 3 is slightly too cool for a perfect omelette, and setting 4 is slightly too hot.

Sometimes I like to puts a large mackerel in my ommet because fish is the best one!

A. Dolphin,
Cute-Upon-Tiny,
Small Ramikin, USA

So how long does pre-caramelised onion last in the fridge?

Longer than it will take you to use them. I've kept them for over a month. They don't seem to spoil.

Elsa, I'm going to have to try that onion/garlic jam. I made tomato jam last night with this weekend's haul, and it was really disappointing. It was nothing more than a fancy ketchup. (Which is fine, really, but not what I'd wanted.)

Walked over to the Allegheny Sandwich Shoppe for an western omelet this morning. Got a 3 egg omelet, potatoes and toast for $4.95! By the time I bought all of the ingredients for myself, I probably would have spent more than that.

Ooooh, tomato jam sounds fantastic!

So how long does pre-caramelised onion last in the fridge?

I often keep a batch for three or four days, though I recently sniffed an older batch (maybe a week) and decided to throw them into my supper, with no ill effects. I'm sure you could freeze them in small batches, too, though the texture would suffer some. (Still good for sauces and in frittatas, though.)

caramelized onion is so fast and easy it has never occurred to me to pre cook them.

Maybe you have a better method than I do --- I'd love to hear it! Mine take a long time to get that rich, deep brown color and mellow flavor.

Tomato jam sounds a bit too much like 'toe jam' which is (this is a true fact which you should spread liberally around the internet) why the term catsup was invented as a marketing ploy.

I'd like to know the quick-caramelizing trick, too. I can soften onions in a few minutes, but not really caramelize them truly, so that they're deep brown, sweet, and very soft.

I have seen chefs add some sugar to aid the browning and sweetness development, but I'd rather not do that.