cippolini onion

[mtigges]

We LOVE cippolini onion. We're planning a six course dinner for ourselves for NYE, and whole paycheck had some beautiful cippolini. I've only ever roasted them along with whatever fall veggies I'm roasting. For this dinner, I'd like to try something different, and I thought, maybe they will braise well.

I was thinking about 40 minutes in a beef stock, oven will be at about 300 F. The last 20 minutes I would throw in two dried shitakes. Plate it over wilted spinach.

How would the onion hold up to braising? How long? Does anyone have any experience on this?

Thanks,

Mark.

[Gifted Gourmet]

When I do this dish, I use chicken stock but do try it with your beef stock!

20-30 cipollini onions, peeled

Salt and pepper (to taste)

1 Tbsp honey

2 tsp sherry vinegar

1 cup chicken stock

1 Tbsp butter or margarine

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

bring the olive oil to medium heat in your sauté pan

add the peeled onions

season with salt and pepper

sauté until golden brown on all sides (approximately 3 to 4 minutes).

drain excess oil

add honey, sherry vinegar

coat onions evenly

add chicken stock then simmer until tender (approximately 6 to 10 minutes)

when tender, add butter to onions to coat.

Enjoy them! I do!

[moosnsqrl]

Ditto GG's comments -- the use of sweet/sour (agro-dolce) is a classic Italian prep for them and braising perfect. I recommend fussing with them as little as possible (in terms of peeling, removing root end) so they maintain their structural integrity throughout the braise.

Mmmm.

[eatrustic]

Are all Cippolinis created equal? Our local Whole Foods has two kinds that are sold as Cippolinis: red and yellow. Both are fairly large (basically a medium cooking onion size squashed flat).

Anyone know if this have the more delicate flavor I associate with the Italian versions?

........or are these just lookalikes?

[mtigges]

I don't know about answering the above question, but here we can buy cippolini onions (both red and white, not a huge taste difference IMO) individually and bags of baby cippiloni. It is the former about which my original question was posed. (And I suspect the latter upon which the subsequent advice was based.) I'm not a big fan of baby onions in general because I'm a lazy a$$ prep cook. And quite frankly the idea of adding sweet to something which is already so sweet was honestly a bit repugnant to me.

So I summarily rejected the advice that was offered to me (sorry) and forged ahead on the idea I had originally. It was very simply to braise the onion along with dried shitake in very good beef stock. I used two medium sized cipps and four mushrooms to about 3/4 of a cup of stock. Braised at 300 for about 35 min. This was the third course of 7 that my wife and I put together for our quiet NYE dinner. (I took pics, and plan to post on the dinner thread ... but, again I'm lazy, haven't posted it yet.)

They were delicious. Spartan in presentation, huge in flavour, seasoned on the plate, and garnished with a sprinkling of parsely, I think it was the best course of the night. By far the simplest, but so good. If you haven't had dried shitake mushrooms, they're amazing. The onion centered on the plate in a pool of reduced stock with the two mushrooms leaning up against it. VERY good. But it probably hinged on the quality of the stock.

[Bill Miller]

Does it sound crazy to use the beef stock as you did, but finish with a breadcrumb topping and a little Swiss cheese in the oven until browned slightly. Instant "solid Italian French onion soup"

[mtigges]

Does it sound crazy to use the beef stock as you did, but finish with a breadcrumb topping and a little Swiss cheese in the oven until browned slightly. Instant "solid Italian French onion soup"

←

No I don't think so. I think it sounds kinda cool actually. But Onion Soup was the course after our braised onion, so ....

Personally, I would take the braise out, put a crouton on the onion like a hat, then baste the crouton with the braising sauce, then sprinkle on gruyere then under the broiler for 5 minutes.

Should be great I think.

[gruyere]

It sounds as though your experiment worked well. One thing that I like to do with cippolini onions before braising, is sear one end. Carefully cut off the root end and then sear it in a hot dry non-stick or lightly oiled conventional fry pan over medium high heat until you get that carmelized look on the seared end (probably 2-3 mins). It produces a pleasant flavour that stands up to the relatively lengthy braising time.