Roasted Walla Wallas

When I feel like having a side dish besides a salad, I try to find a recipe that I've never tried before. To me, a side dish should be simple and preferably fast to make, but at the same time healthy and delicious. I'm not a big fan of packaged side dishes like mac and cheese or stuffing, etc, so coming up with new, inventive side dish takes a lot of thinking and testing! One vegetable I wanted to try were Walla Walla Onions. I wanted to try them because the name reminds me of a Bugs Bunny cartoon where Bugs is a "Wishie-Washie-White-Washing Machine Salesman from Walla Walla, Washington!" Anyhoo, I found these lovely onions at Ralph's, although they were quite pricey. I made the recipe below with just one large onion, and it still came out superb! INGREDIENTS

• 2 Walla-Walla onions
• 2 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 dash pepper, to taste
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme (optional)

Turn on the oven to 400 degrees. Cut off tops of onions, remove skins keeping root end intact. Slice the onions into 4 even wedges. In a bowl, combine vinegar, water, salt, pepper and oil and whisk until combined. Add the quartered onions to the mixture and toss until they are well covered with the vinaigrette. Place the onions skin side down in a baking pan, lined with aluminum foil. Tuck the thyme sprigs in among the onions. Cover the baking pan with foil and place it in the oven. Roast at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, basting occasionally. Remove cover and roast for an additional 15 minutes, until tender and caramelized. Serve as a side dish to almost any meal.