Pickled Red Onions and Geetar Pickin'

Mmmm.... it's bbq season again! Serve these pickled red onions at your next bbq, and your friends will surely devour them. Not only are they good on burgers of any kind, but they're a lovely addition to salads, and one of the nice things about these onions is that you can whip them up in no time at all.

I adapted this recipe from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone - a book that I love and find myself referring to again and again. The original recipe called for red wine vinegar, plus sugar and salt, but I used seasoned rice vinegar instead, and omitted the sugar and adapted the spices, and the results were mighty tasty.

2 large red onions
1 1/2 c. seasoned rice vinegar
2 bay leaves
a pinch of herbs de provence
3 dried red chiles
1 t. crushed black peppercorns
pinch of salt
1 1/2 c. cold water

Thinly slice the onions, place them in a colander, and pour boiling water over them to soften the onions a bit. Then rinse the onions in cold water and place them in a bowl. Now add the vinegar, bay leaves, herbs, chiles, peppercorns, salt and water to the bowl. If you don't have enough liquid to cover the onions, add more vinegar and water in equal parts. Place a heavy plate or bowl on top of the onions to press them down so they are fully immersed in the liquid. Let marinate for 15 minutes or more, and at this point, the onions should be tangy, sweet and zesty, and ready to serve. Refrigerate what you don't eat that day in an airtight container, liquid and all. It will keep for a long time in the refrigerator.

And about that matter of geetar pickin'... I have a REALLY BIG SHOW coming up this Saturday! When I was a mere twenty year old whippersnapper oh so many years ago and had first moved to California and begun playing music, I DREAMED of performing at the Great American Music Hall. I LUSTED after that place. I seriously could not have even imagined that I would get to enjoy playing there on more than one occasion in my life. But here I am, practically 40, and I'm lucky to be singing on that stage for the 4th time, come this Saturday, along with my cohorts in Loretta Lynch. Not bad for an ol' lady. I do hope that if you're local, that you'll be there to enjoy the show with us, cause it's gonna be a blast.