Cooking spring dishes with caramelized onions

Most Long Island farm stands aren't open for spring business just yet. But vegetables can still provide inspiration for delicious weeknight cooking. The secret is to look at old supermarket standbys with new eyes.

In the past few weeks, I've braised celery and then gratineed it with cheese, pureed cooked carrots with garlic and cream, and steamed potato dumplings before tossing them with butter and herbs. Next on my list: caramelizing big batches of yellow onions to add flavor to all kinds of satisfying dishes.

Caramelizing onions is easy, although slicing 2 pounds of them probably will make you cry. Cooks who wear contact lenses tend to weep less than cooks with 20/20 vision. Eyeglasses don't seem to help, but specially made onion goggles (available at cookware shops) might.

Saute your onions with plenty of vegetable oil (you can substitute olive oil or unsalted butter if you prefer) so they don't burn before they brown. Cooking them on medium-high heat for a few minutes until they are soft will speed up the process, but there's no getting around the 50 or more minutes on medium-low that it will take to finish them up. Once they are a beautiful golden brown, you can use them as is. Or add a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar or 1/2teaspoon of finely chopped fresh thyme leaves for acidity and some woodsy flavor.

Some of my favorite uses:

* As a burger topping, or an accompaniment to broiled flank steak

* Inside a grilled cheese and turkey sandwich

* On top of baked or mashed potatoes

* Stirred into egg fettuccine along with some heavy cream and Parmesan

* Scrambled with eggs or tucked inside an omelet

* On top of a curried rice and lentil pilaf

My current favorite: using the onions, along with shredded Cheddar cheese and crumbled bacon, on top of pizza. I often double the onions in the recipe below, use half of them on pizza and save the rest (they'll keep for a week in the refrigerator) for another dinner or two down the road. 

PIZZA WITH CARAMELIZED ONIONS, BACON AND CHEDDAR CHEESE

You can transform this pizza by using different cheese and pork product combinations: Gruyère or Gouda and ham, Fontina and prosciutto, blue cheese (just use 4 ounces if this is your choice) or goat cheese and bacon. For a quick version of this recipe, substitute 1 pound of defrosted frozen pizza dough in place of homemade dough.

For the onions:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 pounds yellow onions, peeled, halved and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices

1 teaspoon packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

For the pizza:

1 cup room-temperature water

3/4 teaspoon instant yeast

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon fine sea salt or kosher salt

4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

4 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese

1. To cook onions: Heat oil over medium heat in large skillet. Add onions, sugar and salt and cook, stirring frequently, until onions begin to soften, 3 to 5 minutes. Turn heat to medium low and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions become deep golden, 40 to 50 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. (Onions can be refrigerated for up to 1 week in an airtight container.)

2. Make pizza dough: Combine water, yeast, flour and salt in work bowl of a food processor and pulse several times to form a rough dough. Let stand for 10 minutes in bowl, then process until smooth and elastic, 30 to 45 seconds.

3. Spray large mixing bowl with nonstick cooking spray and place dough inside. Cover with plastic wrap and let triple in volume, 3 to 4 hours.

4. About 45 minutes before baking, place a baking stone on oven's middle rack. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Spray a 12-inch round pizza pan with nonstick cooking spray. Press dough into pan, all the way to edges. Spread onions over dough, then sprinkle with bacon and cheese.

5. Slide pan onto baking stone. Bake until edges of dough are deep golden and cheese is bubbling, 12 to 15 minutes. Makes 2 to 3 servings.