Bk #5: Onions

Cheap and cheerful, a staple for everyday cooking and a great way to learn the about the back beat to a dish, the unsung hero of great food.

I've collected numerous learn-to-cook cookbooks over the years. Some start with eggs, while others delve into elaborate techniques like a cartouche within just a couple of pages. I'm aiming for a sweet spot, tailored for someone with an operational kitchen, keen on enhancing their cooking skills. I have nothing against the humble egg — we'll come to egg night later. However, for now, I thought I'd start with the humble onion. Providing a solid foundation for good cooking and so many recipes begin with the humble onion, it just feels right that we start here.

Onions form the flavour basis of so many cooked dishes that I get nervous when we don't have one in the fridge. For me, they are the unsung hero of a dish, a supporting actor that barely gets a mention but makes the story whole and complete. Think of it as the base beat to your favorite song, the backbone of so many tunes.

There are so many ways to chop an onion, and my advice is that the best one is the one you feel most comfortable with.  The only instructions I got from my gran in the recipe she sent me when I was at university were to ’peel and slice’ it.  So that’s what I’ve done over the years.  Gradually, I just got in the habit of top and tailing, trying to cut as close as I could to the root base to keep the onion together with the benefit of not wasting any.  At the same time, we are trying to make it easier to peel.  I’d then slice it in half down the now exposed root, which will give two halves to peel.  From that point you can either slice it or dice it. Which means sliced length ways and then sliced again to form rough squares.

Most recipes that use onions as backbone start with a softening process, a little oil or some butter heated gently and then time. 

We are going to start off this adventure with the caramelizing of some onions.  They can be used as a side dish to something you normally have or served on toast for lunch.  With a little balsamic vinegar and brown sugar, you have a killer condiment for steak or sausage.  Take it a step further and make French onion soup. 

If this isn’t your thing then we'll cover a herby tomato sauce as a pizza or pasta topping, or the basis of a soup or a stew, with a tweak we can add a spice and move onto a curry paste.  We’ll come to these in later posts.

Onion Recipes to start the journey:

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NB:

• The timings are approximations, a best guess as everyone cooks differently

• Bouillion the french word for stock, and a brand name for an instant powdered vegetable stock. A great store cupboard item.

• A cartouche is a parchment paper lid