I love pearl onions. Rich? Not so much. So I don’t make them that often – usually for some feast or another, and then (also usually) a variation on Julia Child’s Onions in Cream – VERY tasty, in my opinion (tho’ again, not in Rich’s). Irregardless… I was getting ready to make barbecued pot roast yesterday, and found our larder totally out of the fresh veggies I would normally add – 
onion, carrots, celery. I DID have a bit of leftover homemade pico de gallo from earlier in the week, some roasted red peppers, and a bag of pearl onions in the freezer – the roast was saved! I didn’t need the entire bag of onions, though, and dinner on a damp and cool June Sunday does not qualify for copious amounts of cream in anything – especially if, like me, you’ve just had the last of the vichyssoise for lunch 😉 – so off I went (you know where) in search of options.
Pearl onions with peas was a non-starter. Rich likes peas, in and of themselves. Just not when they’re mixed in with anything else. I DID, however, find several interesting possibilities, and so took a bit from one recipe and a bit from another, based it all on what we had on hand and made the rest of it up as I went. What I ended up with was a fairly quick and easy stove-top side dish that even got Rich to allow as how it was pretty tasty – not an easy thing when pearl onions are involved! I DID use some pretty incredible 25 year old balsamic vinegar, but I would guess that your everyday balsamic would do just about as well.
INGREDIENTS
•1 bag frozen pearl onions
•1 tbsp butter
•Rosemary
•1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (I used a 25 year old from the Oilerie in Fish Creek, WI)
•1/4 cup less-salt soy sauce
•1 tbsp honey
•1 tbsp olive oil (I used some of the extra virgin ‘spicy’ Italian from the Oilerie)
Whisk the vinegar, soy sauce, honey and olive oil together.
Melt butter in a flat bottomed skillet. Add thawed onions and rosemary and sauté until lightly browned. Add the vinegar mixture and cook, stirring often, until the sauce is thickened and coats the onions.