Glazed Onions

[Chris Hennes]

One of the dishes that my wife's family insists on for the holidays are glazed onions (what are those little onions called? the spherical ones, not flattened or oblong) In RecipeGullet I found Gifted Gourmet's recipe, but what other ideas do you all have? I think their family tradition is basically to saute in butter and finish with cream, but it seems like there must be a lot of ways to take it up a notch.

[catdaddy]

How about an Asian bent. Braising then glazing with soy, garlic, ginger, sugar, and sesame.

[faronem]

Maybe you mean pearl onions?

Invariably, I end up making some sort of holiday onion dish which involves caramelizing to sweeten, souring with vinegar, and coloring with beet jus.

[Kerry Beal]

I use an interesting recipe for Pearl Onions in Horseradish cream - uses crushed up buttery crackers - absolutely fabulous!

But I hate peeling the little suckers!

[heidih]

What kinds of onions are they starting with? Many tell me they detest the prep of fresh ones and use the frozen pre-peeled. Have you tasted them unadorned so that you know what depth of flavor and type of texture you are starting with?

[Kerry Beal]

I've never found frozen ones here in Ontario - and I have looked!

I use the yellow, the red or the white - prefer the white for the horseradish cream recipe. Red in the Ad Hoc's chicken pot pie.

[syoung68]

I always keep a few bags of the frozen pre-peeled around. I can't always find them so when I see them I grab a few bags. I throw them into soups, peas, pot pies, etc.

Lately I have seen fresh pre peeled onions at Fresh Market. I did not buy any, but now that I know they have them I may skip the frozen. And I will pay whatever premium they want to skip the hassle of peeling them myself.

Edited November 23, 2010 by syoung68 (log)

[codheadred]

standard way here is to finish them with balsamic, the OH cant get enough of them

[Chris Hennes]

Yeah, "pearl onions," that's right. I dunno why I couldn't remember that!

I cheat and used the bagged frozen ones. Once glazed they are nearly as good as fresh, and a heck of a lot easier to deal with! Kerry, do have any more details on that horseradish cream recipe? I just made a whole bunch of prepared HR and would love a good use for it.

[John Rosevear]

Last year I braised them with butter, stock, and Madeira for about 40 min or so, then let the liquid boil off and rolled the onions around in the pan to brown/glaze them a bit just before serving. Huge success. The Madeira -- which I used only because it was the closest bottle to hand, as I was doing this on the fly while dealing with something else -- turned out to be an inspired touch.

[Kerry Beal]

Yeah, "pearl onions," that's right. I dunno why I couldn't remember that!

I cheat and used the bagged frozen ones. Once glazed they are nearly as good as fresh, and a heck of a lot easier to deal with! Kerry, do have any more details on that horseradish cream recipe? I just made a whole bunch of prepared HR and would love a good use for it.

Will post when I get home from work tonight.

[andiesenji]

I use an interesting recipe for Pearl Onions in Horseradish cream - uses crushed up buttery crackers - absolutely fabulous!

But I hate peeling the little suckers!

I get them in little mesh bags, my local store has white, brown and red, so I get a bag of each.

I dip the bags in boiling water, drain (in the dishwasher) and while they are still warm slip the skins off - they turn inside out - cut them off and go from there.

This method takes very little time and is much less messy than peeling them dry.

[Jaymes]

Our favorite holiday onion recipe isn't really 'glazed.' But it's good.

Here it is:

CREAMED ONIONS

30 or so small onions -- not tiny pearl onions, but the small stewing ones - I guess about the size of a pingpong ball

1/3 C butter

3 T all-purpose flour

1 1/2 C whole milk

1 C shredded processed cheese

Tabasco or other hot sauce, to taste

paprika, parsley

1/2 C chopped peanuts for garnish

Peel onions and cook until just barely tender in boiling salted water. Drain well and set aside. In cooking pan, melt butter. Add flour and cook until flour begins to brown slightly and bubble, and is no longer 'raw.' Stir in milk and cook slowly, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Add cheese and continue stirring until mixture is thoroughly combined, smooth, and a little thicker than you want the eventual dish (the onions, although drained, will still contain some liquid). Add onions and stir, being careful not to break down onions any more than you have to. Add hot sauce to taste, if desired. Heat through and pour into warmed serving dish. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts, parsley and paprika and serve immediately.

[Kerry Beal]

Yeah, "pearl onions," that's right. I dunno why I couldn't remember that!

I cheat and used the bagged frozen ones. Once glazed they are nearly as good as fresh, and a heck of a lot easier to deal with! Kerry, do have any more details on that horseradish cream recipe? I just made a whole bunch of prepared HR and would love a good use for it.

Will post when I get home from work tonight.

Here you go -

Pearl Onions in Horseradish cream

4 cups pearl onions, steamed and peeled

⅓ cup melted butter

2 ½ cups buttery crackers, crushed Toppables or Ritz

1 ⅓ cup heavy cream

2 tsp prepared horseradish

Bake 350. Place onions in a casserole, pour over butter, crush crackers on top. Pour cream mixed with horseradish over the crackers. 50 minutes.

[David A. Goldfarb]

I get them in little mesh bags, my local store has white, brown and red, so I get a bag of each.

I dip the bags in boiling water, drain (in the dishwasher) and while they are still warm slip the skins off - they turn inside out - cut them off and go from there.

This method takes very little time and is much less messy than peeling them dry.

Exactly. Blanching makes it easy to peel all kinds of small onions. My favorites are white and red cippolini that I can find at the Union Square Greenmarket sometimes here in New York. Usually I cut off the root end first and cut a "+" with the tip of the knife in the cut end, then maybe 30 seconds in boiling water and the skins should slip off.

[Anna N]

. . . .

I get them in little mesh bags, my local store has white, brown and red, so I get a bag of each.

I dip the bags in boiling water, drain (in the dishwasher) and while they are still warm slip the skins off - they turn inside out - cut them off and go from there.

This method takes very little time and is much less messy than peeling them dry.

Andie, we can always trust you to have found a better way! Blanching them in their mesh bags, draining them on a dishwasher rack is BRILLIANT!

[andiesenji]

. . . .

I get them in little mesh bags, my local store has white, brown and red, so I get a bag of each.

I dip the bags in boiling water, drain (in the dishwasher) and while they are still warm slip the skins off - they turn inside out - cut them off and go from there.

This method takes very little time and is much less messy than peeling them dry.

Andie, we can always trust you to have found a better way! Blanching them in their mesh bags, draining them on a dishwasher rack is BRILLIANT!

I prepared some last night for a dish I'm doing today.

I forgot to mention that I don't use a knife - I use scissors - I have a pair of the little Henckels "embroidery" scissors that are extremely sharp and just right for this task - those skins can be slippery.

For me this is much easier than using a knife and faster for me.

I also use them for cutting the stems on baby carrots and beets and trimming the leaves on baby artichokes.

[janeer]

I get them in little mesh bags, my local store has white, brown and red, so I get a bag of each.

I dip the bags in boiling water, drain (in the dishwasher) and while they are still warm slip the skins off - they turn inside out - cut them off and go from there.

This method takes very little time and is much less messy than peeling them dry.

Exactly. Blanching makes it easy to peel all kinds of small onions. My favorites are white and red cippolini that I can find at the Union Square Greenmarket sometimes here in New York. Usually I cut off the root end first and cut a "+" with the tip of the knife in the cut end, then maybe 30 seconds in boiling water and the skins should slip off.

I pretty much do the same. I don't think the frozen ones cut it--never used them again after one try. I like to pick out a certain size from loose "boiling onions," as we'be always called them. I glaze with butter, a bit of sugar, maple syrup, salt and a good amount of white pepper.