Moonbooty Marsden’s Marvellous Marmalade

I quit my law degree a couple of weeks ago. I sum it up with the stolen phrase “capacity does not equal desire.” My fellow law-school-drop-out Hill said, rather wittily might I add, “I would rather spend the next 6 years making marmalade than building up a HECS debt.

So we made marmalade.

Got a recipe of the net. The times were wrong and we changed it to suit our taste. We made a shitload and have been handing it around town, but it was tres popular so we’ll need to make more.

I WILL UPDATE THIS WHEN I TRY SOME MORE CHANGES AND MAKE IT BETTER.

Ingredients:
• 2kg Onions (we used brown)
• 6 cloves garlic
• 3 chillis (ours weren’t strong so we added a few pinches of dried flakes, depends on your taste and the strength of your chillis)
• 1 tables spoon fresh thyme
• 200ml Port
• 750ml red wine (we used shiraz)
• 350ml red wine vinegar (you could use a bit less than this as ours was acidic)
• 4 tables spoons olive oil (you'll need an extra 100ml or so to make up for the butter)
• 140g caster sugar (next time I am using brown as I think it’ll give a richer flavour)
• pepper and salt

they said 140g butter though next time I am just using olive oil = vegan, plus the butter is visible in the jars so not pretty. so yeah. don't use butter.


1. Chop the onions. Cry (unless you are the sensibly snorkelled Hill!) Cut them in half and then finely slice into semi circles.
2. Finely chop the garlic, chilli and thyme.
3. Heat the oil in a large sauce pan with the oil, and then add the onions, garlic and chilli.
4. Stir all still covered in oil and starting to soften.
5. Sprinkle over sugar, thyme, salt, pepper and splash Tabasco.
6. Now you slow cook the onions. The recipe called for 40-50mins. We needed closer to an hour and a half. The recipe said the juices needed to evaporate. Butter doesn’t really evaporate. Flawed!
7. But this is true: “The onions are ready when they're really soft and sticky. They should be so soft that they break when pressed against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon. Slow cooking is the secret of really soft and sticky onions, so don't rush this part.”
8. Pour in the wine, vinegar and port and simmer everything, still uncovered, over a high heat, stirring every so often until the onions are a deep mahogany colour and the liquid has reduced by about two-thirds. The idiots at some internet site said 30mins. Pah! Closer to an hour! Or more!9. It's done when drawing a spoon across the bottom of the pan clears a path that fills rapidly with syrupy juice. Leave the onions to cool in the pan, then scoop into sterilised jars and seal.

Can be eaten straight away, but keeps in the fridge for up to 3 months.

Yum! Really good with vintage cheddar and crackers, or dolloped onto an omelette or on salad or tart or on a vege pie bought late at night with friends. Or by the spoonful if you’re my friend Lisa.