Balsamic Onion Salad

For the salad, I started with Ina Garten's recipe for Red Lettuce with Balsamic Onions.  I've made the recipe several times before, but still managed to make a few mistakes this time (by not looking at the recipe), cooking the onions a little too long at too high a temperature.  I tweaked the recipe ingredients a little and I think it turned out for the better...

• 3 small red onions
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons good balsamic vinegar
• 1 cup good olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 6 tablespoons minced shallots (2 large)
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup good red wine vinegar
• 2 heads red-leaf, washed, spun dry, and torn into pieces.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Cut the onions in 1/2 and slice 1/4-inch thick, place on a baking sheet and toss with:

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the onions are tender.

Remove from oven and toss with 2 more tablespoons balsamic vinegar and cool to room temperature.

Whisk together the shallots, mustard, red wine vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a small bowl. While whisking, add 3/4 cup olive oil until emulsified.

To assemble, toss enough lettuce for 6 people with dressing, to taste. Place the lettuce on 6 plates and arrange the onions on top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve.

At this point you can see the balsamic onions (slightly over-cooked) over the lettuce, I used baby arugula instead of red leaf lettuce, added some crumbled blue cheese and toasted some walnuts.  I think it was about 1/2 a cup of the cheese and walnuts, but I sort of assembled everything after for the two of us, so my proportions may have been off a little.