orange caramelized onions

Things you'll need:

Heavy soup or stock pot, and lid
Spoon / spatula for stirring

Ingredients:

6-8 large onions (yellow, red, does not really matter unless you have preference): peeled, halved then cut into 1/4 inch slices
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs avocado oil (or olive)
1 tbs pepper
1 cup (or more) orange liqueur
1 cup (or more) fresh OJ, this translates to 10-15 fresh oranges

Process:

• Heat pot to Med High, letting it get hot before adding oil
• Add oil and let that get hot
• Add onions only initially, stirring on occasion to break them up
• After 3-4 minutes add pepper, and first orange or two of juice: stir and mostly cover the pot with the lid, leave a small opening to let the steam out, reduce to just under med heat, so Med Low
• Let the stock reduce by half, stirring every 15-20 minutes. This can take an hour.
• Once the liquid is nearly gone (by sight and sound; we don't want to run out of liquid for a while, you want to create a mush of onion then start to add color (let it "dry" out)), add the first full round of orange liquids, juice and hooch. Add a few tablespoons at a time of each, stir and re-cover (leaving a small gap). It should be a medium simmer, so that it isn't harshly boiling or barely doing a thing ...
• You now just babysit it: every 20 minutes or so, stir and add orange liquids as needed.
• I normally cook this for 3-4 hours. Once you have the onions as mushy as you like, let the liquid "go" and gently caramelize ... stir and once some brown develops on the bottom, kill the heat and add a few more tbs of orange and stir to blend the browned stuff into the entire mixture. This would be a good time to add any "extra" fresh stuff.
• Let it rest for a few minutes and serve.

Optional:

Adding fresh basil or mint or rosemary near the end all take the flavor profile in slightly different directions ...
You can also zest the oranges and add the zest along the way for more orange intensity
Use any favorite of fresh fruit juice along with orange or in place of ...