Sweet-and-Sour Onions

Place all ingredients except onions in heavy large pot. Bring to boil over high heat. Add onions; reduce heat to medium and simmer until crisp-tender, about 10 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer onions to jar with lid.

Cover onion mixture and refrigerate until flavors blend, at least 1 week and up to 1 month.

Comments: Zia Maria is a simple but delightful restaurant in Alghero, a popular tourist resort on a part of Sardinia's west coast known as the Coral Riviera. The dining room is very basic; a large fireplace and some antique cooking equipment are the only things to distract you from the traditional Sardinian menu. But that's a good thing, because once you start in on pickled artichokes and mushrooms, wild boar in sweet-and-sour broth, or ricotta ravioli with tomato sauce, you'll appreciate having few distractions. Each dish, like these tangy onions from the restaurant's selection of antipasti, is cooked and presented in straightforward fashion.