Recipes that let the alliums be the star of the show.
I was once asked to tell someone which dishes had onions and garlic in them and I realized, it was significantly easier to tell them the items that didn’t.
I could go on about adding them to almost every savory dish, but they can shine on their own.
Bringing them Home
Onions, shallots, and garlic are available year-round in the stores, but they do have a season. They are planted in the fall and harvested in the late spring. Modern storage techniques allow us to buy them every day, but their quality does change.
Be careful when buying them in the spring, before the new harvest comes in. The unhealthy old bulbs will rot in the center layers and the healthy ones will sprout.
Slow cooking methods
Onions, leeks, shallots, and garlic transform when cooked long and slow. These methods take time. If you are short on time, you can make these dishes while you are in the kitchen preparing a different meal.
I wrap heads of garlic in foil and roast in the oven when I bake bread or roasting vegetables. Make caramelized onions ahead of time and then add to a sandwich or salad later.
Melted Leeks
This recipe describes the best way to clean the leeks before using them.
- 3 leeks, dark green ends removed
- 2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Cut the leeks, white and light green parts, in quarters lengthwise, then cut across the grain into small squares, removing the root end. Place the cut leeks in a large bowl, fill with the bowl with water, and stir. Allow any dirt to settle to the bottom, first, remove the leeks from the water, then discard the water. In a large pot with a lid, melt the butter, over medium heat, and add the wet leeks. Season with the salt and stir. Cook slowly over medium heat, for about 15 minutes, until the leeks are very soft. Serve as a side dish with meat, over mashed potatoes, or cooked beans or on toasted bread.
Caramelized Onions
- 5–6 Onions (red, white or yellow doesn’t matter)
- 2–3 tablespoons olive oil or butter
Slice the onions lengthwise. In a large pot, cook the onions with the oil over medium-low heat, until the onions are brown. (Occasionally add a little water if necessary, to keep from burning.) This will take about 40–50 minutes.
French onion soup takes caramelized onions to another level. This dish transforms just a few ingredients into a decadent meal.
French Onion Soup
- 5–6 Onions (red, white or yellow doesn’t matter)
- 2–3 tablespoons olive oil or butter
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 cup wine or dry sherry
- 1 quart beef stock/broth or vegetable stock
- 1 teaspoon salt (if using store-bought broth, taste first and use less salt)
- fresh ground pepper to taste
- 2 cups croutons
- 1 cup grated Gruyere cheese
Slice the onions lengthwise. In a large pot, cook the onions with the oil over medium-low heat, until the onions are brown. (Occasionally add a little water if necessary, to keep from burning.) Add the thyme and wine and reduce the wine until it is nearly all evaporated. Add the beef stock and let it simmer for one hour. Add the salt and taste. When ready to serve, add fresh ground pepper. Top with croutons and Gruyere cheese and melt the cheese under the broiler.
Storage methods
Store-bought onions go through a curing process, where they are kept at 70–80 °F for 6 weeks and then brought into a dormant state by cooling to refrigeration temperatures. These cured onions can sit on your counter or a cool dark location in your home. They will last for a month or more.
Small farms don’t always have space and time to cure onions. If you buy onions at the farmers market or a small farm ask them how they are treated.
If they are not cured, they can sit out for a few days, if you want to keep them for more than a week, put them in the refrigerator. Keep them in a sealed bag, so they don’t smell up the whole fridge.
Onions won’t last forever. Keep an eye on them. If they start to go bad, just remove the affected layers and use the rest of the onion.
Do onions make you cry?
Raw onions have a pungency that is caused by the sulfur compounds in the onion, converting to sulfuric acid when they react with air. This sulfuric acid causes you to cry when you cut into one.
The quantity of sulfur in the soil where they are grown affects the quantity of sulfur in the onion.
Chilling onions before cutting them will slightly help to reduce the reaction causing the production of sulfuric acid.
My best advice, contact lenses for your eyes, if you are lucky enough to wear them. They help to keep the sulfuric acid out of my eyes.
Onions are seasonal vegetables.
Even though onions are available year-round at the supermarket, they are harvested once a year. Fresh onions have more flavor. Look for onions at the farmers’ market in the late spring and early summer months to enjoy them at their best.
Use onions to build flavor in your dishes, and occasionally let them be the stars in your meal.