Onions!

[torakris]

Quite agree, quite agree.

Take some red onions, top and tail but leave the skin on. Douse in cheap "balsamic" vinegar. Roast at 300 for two hours.

this sounds incredible!

just basalmic? no salt or pepper?

are they eaten just like that or are they used more as a garnish?

are they dressed at all after being cooked?

[Jinmyo]

Kristin, salt them afterwards with fleur de sel or grise, good bit of crushed pepper.

Multiple uses:

Still warm with cheddar or Stilton in a sandwich (with Dijon).

Minced and touched with horseradish and rolled within a slice of cold prime rib.

Minced as a garnish for mashers or celery root or parsnip puree.

With bacon and calf liver and toast.

Pureed and loosened with stock and herbs as a sauce for lamb or even a firm fish like shark.

Pierce a piece of puffed tofu and stuff it with chunks of the onion.

Serve as is with a thick slice of ham.

Very versatile and easy.

[bloviatrix]

I just remembered.....

Several months ago, I woke up on a friday morning to the wonderful smell of onions. It seems my husband had chopped up all the onions I would need to make chili. (Isn't he a sweetie? But I digress) The smell had wafted through the apartment all the way to the bedroom. It smelled almost a good as fresh brewed coffee.

Of course, as soon as I walked into the kitchen my eyes started to burn and water, but that's a whole other story.

Edited September 4, 2003 by bloviatrix (log)

[guajolote]

If your ever grilling throw a whole onion on the coals. Cook it for 30 minutes, turning it after 15. Peel and eat. Yum.

[Jinmyo]

Another great thing: Cream of onion soup with hamhocks.

Take several different kinds of onions, saute, splash some wine and reduce. Simmer with chicken stock and hocks. Remove and dismantle hocks. Puree onions and stock. Add cream, incorprate, add hock meat.

Serve with deep-fried pease porridge croquettes (mushy peas bound in cheese-cloth, cooked until firm) and a daikon and radish green salad with radicchio and escarole.

This was a very popular menu. (Finishing with a cheese tasting course with oat-cake tuiles and beginning with something else I can't quite remember.)

Very English in a twisted sort of way.

[fifi]

Another great thing: Cream of onion soup with hamhocks.

You are killing me! Three of my FAVORITE things.

[tommy]

i make what is sometimes accepted as "authentic style" tacos. and that includes not much more than raw onion and cilantro with meat on a torilla. believe me, when i tell people they'll be having "tacos", and they get a gander at that spread, they don't know what to do with themselves. but they *always* like it.

[FAMU_OHIO]

I like to sautee diced onions in butter till they start to carmelize, then add them to mashed potatoes

Dude... Excellent freakin' suggestion. I'm makin' mashed taters tonight!!

[SobaAddict70]

My current fascination: red onion marmalade.

Sliced red onions (or a mix of different onions -- red onions, Vidalias, Bermuda, Spanish, cipolini), EVOO, vinegar (either cider or distilled vinegar is good), sweetener (I prefer brown sugar to regular sugar), citrus zest and juice, and seasonings -- salt, cracked black pepper or peppercorns, star anise, cloves or five-spice powder.

Especially amazing with grilled pork chops or broiled chicken breasts.

Soba

edit: try this as an accompaniment to crostini or bruschetta with chicken livers: saute chicken livers in butter and EVOO until cooked through. Deglaze with white wine or marsala, cook until liquid has mostly evaporated, cool. Puree in a food processor, adjust seasoning.

Edited September 4, 2003 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[Jinmyo]

chicken livers:  saute chicken livers in butter and EVOO until cooked through

Ack. Please, please, chicken livers must be rare.

[Lady T]

Rare, absolutely. But raw -- ack!

Rare is the best.

[SobaAddict70]

ok, Jin.

Soba

[wesza]

Rare, absolutely.  But raw -- ack!

Rare is the best.

You've spelled it wrong. Raw Liver when served in "Hawaii", are not called "Ack". the correct spelling for this delicious Hawaiian treat is, "AKI". There are recipes in many Island cookbooks.

Now please advise me regarding another question about "Raw Onions", I have a close lady friend who is from "Alania-North Ossetia". A small Russian country located in the Causcaus. Everytime that she has certain gender problems [she's a RN] she treats herself by drinking "Pure Onion Juice", that she prepares with my, "Atlas Juicemaker", as hers doesen't seem able to do the juice properly. She skins several whole pungent onions, then juices them, adding serveral stalks of celery, with the leafs, to modify the taste. Then she slowly sips, about a pint of this juice. Then quickly returns to her apartment, where she say's she often needs to take a nap, or sometimes feels nausea. She say's that this makes her feel much better and more comfortable. Claims that this is used by many woman reguarly in Alania. Now since this is supposedly where "Yougart. originated. Is she on to something that may be helpfull to us all, is it a old wifes tale. or is she nuts? Irwin

[torakris]

Rare, absolutely.  But raw -- ack!

Rare is the best.

You've spelled it wrong. Raw Liver when served in "Hawaii", are not called "Ack". the correct spelling for this delicious Hawaiian treat is, "AKI". There are recipes in many Island cookbooks.

and in Japan raw liver is referred to as reba (liver) sashimi, reba sashi for those that want to sound cool!

what was this thread about again?

[FoodZealot]

Its just started raining in Bombay (though maybe not full monsoon yet) and the veggies in the market are looking fresh and cheerful. There were these big bunches of spring onions with long, bright green shoots on top. This is always tempts me into cooking them with chickpea flour, a standard Gujarati technique that can be used with all sorts of leafy veggies, or green peppers, but I like it best with spring onions.

I roasted some chickpea flour till it smelled 'cooked', sieved it with turmeric, coriander-cumin powder and red chilli powder, and then added a little oil to make it into very fine breadcrumb texture. Sliced the onion bulbs and sauteed them with a couple of chopped up green chillies and then when they were soft, added the chopped green sping onion tops. When they were wilted, added some salt and then the chickpea flour mixture and cooked it till dry. The aim is to get the wilted green and onions surrounded by golden grains of the chickpea flour mixture.

This is allium lovers bliss, eaten with slices of seven grain bread and listening to the rain fall,

Vikram 

Just ran across this in the Dinner thread, and thought it might be appreciated here.

~Tad

[SethG]

Thank you, Tad/Vikram. That sounds fantastic.

[Placebo]

Slice red onions 3/4" thick, marinate in balsamic type vinegar and olive oil, frill until soft. Great on sammiches or just straight up on their own. Nummy.

[pho]

A deep, dark, French onion soup is one of my favourite things to eat from a bowl.

Roasted shallots and cipollini onions dressed with a bit of aged balsamic is fantastic.

Slowly cooked vidalia onions (diced) until the become so soft they're nearly spreadable. Spread it on top of some toasted baguette, top it with some arugula, a drizzle of good olive oil and some coarse salt. Great stuff.