Buttery Shallots

I just saw Despicable Me last night, and all I can think about when I look at the picture above is minions.  And in a way that’s what these 40+ scallions were to me on the day I cooked them–nearly identical, fairly amusing, and f***ing neverending.

I had bought a small bag of these on impulse at Park to Shop in Cleveland, much in the way a normal person grabs a great shirt from the sale rack and lunges for the cash register.  I’d never made risotto with this recipe-specified root vegetable, and at $1 a bag these babies were my ticket to a shallot-y  Shangri-la.

But in the coming weeks the rice never left the back of my cabinet and the shallots hid in the fridge.  On top of that, I inherited another bag from a friend who said she didn’t like them.  The day Ari made her amazing Brie and Tomato Pasta, the bread I was going to make literally flopped, and I had to come up with another, more sinister plan.  Light bulb.

In the end, I used this recipe to asphyxiate the little shallots in a pool of butter and balsamic vinegar.  Delicious?  OMG yes.  But so would be a tub of melted butter with some balsamic vinegar in it.  I think you could do the same to any vegetable, so put this recipe aside for your own night of dastardly desperation.

Ingredients (not adapted.  Shamelessly taken from Smitten Kitchen.  She is my muse).

• 3/4 stick unsalted butter
• ~40 small to medium shallots (large ones should be cut in half)
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 5 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• cilantro, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 400F.  Use an oven-proof dish for this one.  If you don’t have a skillet, Deb says you can start the shallots in a skillet and then move it to a baking dish.  Add the shallots and sugar, and stir occasionally over medium heat, coating, for about 10 minutes.  Add the vinegar, salt, and pepper, and then deposit in the oven for at least 30 minutes, checking in and tossing with a wooden spoon every 10 minutes.  Taste and season as necessary, and then add the cilantro.

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