My husband says I am never hungry, I am always really hungry. I guess I must say that a lot.
Around 11:30 this morning I was really hungry. Breakfast had been so long ago I couldn’t remember it.
So I scrounged around in the fridge. We had some excellent tuna salad mixed with a confetti of purple onion and radish, but our next loaf of no-knead bread was at least an hour from being ready to eat and I had nothing to put it on. No crackers, even.
(We seriously need to go to the store, but tomorrow is Farmers Market day, so I am holding off to see what I can buy local, before I buy non.)
Basically, besides a million condiments and the tuna, the fridge yielded only cold spaghetti and a container of sliced onions. I munched on toasted pumpkin seeds while I considered the possibilities.
If there is one thing I love it is caramelized onions – incredibly sweet, slightly crunchy and only a tiny hint of pungency. Caramelized onions are great with orecchiette, so why not spaghetti?
I put a knob of butter into a nonstick pan with the onions. Let them cook and brown and turn ruddy with sweetness. Added some salt. Kept cooking, til some of the onions browned, then browned even darker on the edges. They are sweetest right before they burn.
Added some more butter and threw the pasta into the pan. Stirred it as the butter melted and the pasta turned golden brown with all the good onion juices. Tipped it out into a pasta bowl, salted and peppered it. Threw some pumpkin seeds on for good measure (they were in my hand anyway) and tasted it. It was amazingly good. Threw on some more pumpkin seeds, tossed it all together, and sat down to lunch.
(Some fresh grated cheese might have been good too, but it was gone before I thought of it. So it goes.)
My Plate or Yours 
I too let my usually overstocked fridge get dangerously low if it’s close to farmers’ market day. And as for the caramelized onions: they are simply delectable, like your photo. I also love them with polenta or even with a bit of cheese on crostini. It’s amazing the way the heating process draws out their sweetness.
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Serendipity Scrounged, wonderful!
I’m still clearing out leftovers from Easter and so supper last night looked lots like this. And when I make fajitas, I cook the onions with brown sugar for a few hours. They’re amazing. Takes 2 onions per person! Yes they really cook down.
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Great use of leftovers and the pantry. I just came home from the Italian section of Providence with bags of pasta, and my plan is to fridge-scrounge tonight. Thanks for the inspiration!
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Okay, I need to be able to get you to come around when I’m hungry and I think there’s nothing in my fridge/pantry! Usually I end up going shopping, but I really should be looking more closely at what I *do* have – maybe I’d end up with a quick and tasty meal like this!
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Yum, Susan, polenta! Are there any places caramelized onions aren’t good. We make a kind of flatbread with just them and a few anchovies. Wonderful
Brown sugar and onions — sounds decadent Alanna.
Your pantry inspires me, Lydia!
Truth is, Ellie, I am not usually very good at using up leftovers — guess that’s why I bothered to blog it. I was amazed at how good this was with so little effort.
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Very yummy! Not at all surprised that you could come up with this (knowing you to be the creative cook that you are). Carmelized onions reminds me that I need to get you my hash brown pizza recipe. Maybe my next blog post…
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Christine! I want to
Lick
Your
Skillet!
*bet ya haven’t heard that one before.
This sounds so amazingly good. Since Ed hates onions (can ya believe it?) I’ll make this for myself some evening when he’s at a business dinner. I don’t normally wish he’d go away but…
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Sometimes the best foods come out of poverty (and I should know!!), or at least letting the fridge run low. It’s amazing how delicious something with so little ingredients can be. Great blog by the way!
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Hash brown pizza — sounds like something I’d love, Ronnie!
Ed hates onions, Kevin? Lucky for him (and you!) he likes to do the dishes!
Thanks, Freya. I guess scarcity is the mother of invention, or something like that. 🙂
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I bet that was delicious. I love the pumpkin seed addition!
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