6～8
1 serving
2 hours 30 minutes
total time
Who needs manna from heaven when you have onions? Photo credit: iStock
Considering its banal nature, the ordinary onion certainly gets its share of poetic prose. Take this line from Mark Kurlansky’s new book of poems for Allium. onion core: “Onion is an extraordinary lily, certainly more talented than other lilies.”
These are the sweet words of a vegetable that will make you cry.
He continues: “Lilies generally do not know how to defend themselves. But when onion bulbs are attacked, they vomit back with a ferocity incomparable to other plants.”
Perhaps Jews, as a people, think they can identify with this trait. Their affinity for onions certainly goes back a long way. So is their penchant for good kvetch. After God parted the Red Sea for them, the formerly enslaved Israelites, who had been eating onions in Egypt, became dissatisfied with the new bill of fare, which, as we know, consisted entirely of manna from heaven. I couldn’t help it.
“This was clearly an unenviable situation,” Kurlansky wrote. The Hebrews complained to Moses that they missed ingredients such as garlic, leeks, and onions.
“They missed the entire Onion family,” Kurlansky wrote. “Moses was not satisfied. If you freed your people and fed them from God, you wouldn’t expect them to complain, ‘But where are the onions?'”
I would argue against this as follows. Get to know us.
In any case, onions subsequently found their way into all kinds of Jewish cuisine, including a notable variety of breads, including onion bagels, onion-and-poppy-flecked bialys and their predecessors. included. pretzels.
“That’s what they were called in Bialystok.” Bialistken Zibele Pretzel Kuchenor “Beerist Onion Pretzel Cake,” writes Joanne Nathan king solomon’s table. “The larger ones were also called ‘onion boards,’ and these pretzels became bialys on New York’s Lower East Side.”
Beyond the bread is a Syrian onion filling. MekushiJewish stuffed onions called cochini Mahashai peopleonion kugel, eggs and onions, chopped liver slathered with caramelized onions, and soups and stews of every stripe adorned with that extraordinary lily.
“I don’t think there’s a Shabbat stew that doesn’t have onions,” cookbook author Adina Sussman said in a recent interview. “They add bulk to the dish, sweetness and caramelization, so they’re essential for long-cooked dishes. Think of an onion going from its raw form to its cooked form. That’s quite an evolution. ”
common round onions, Allium cepaThe reason farmers don’t treat it as such a perennial is because its bulbs (which would otherwise remain in the ground to live another year) are picked before the plant blooms. To strengthen the skin and make the vegetable last longer, it is then dried in a warm, dry place. And we will eat it, but the cook will suffer.
“The toxic saliva that the vengeful onion pumps into its eyes is a low-molecular-weight substance that contains sulfur atoms,” Kurlansky explains. There are a variety of compounds, including those that cause onion breath and those that cause tears. “The molecules dissolve in the water in your eyes and turn into sulfuric acid, a nasty little trick designed for protection.”
All of these compounds are unstable, which, as Sussman pointed out, explains the alchemy that transforms the sharp flavor of raw vegetables into something sweeter when stir-fried. (Onions contain glucose, and slow cooking releases the glucose.)
Sussman’s latest cookbook is sabbath day, Her mother recalls in the book that when she was a child, she would grill chicken, a Shabbat staple, over large onions. “It was our Friday night staple, her mother made it almost every week, and we never got tired of it,” Sussman says. She explains that her father and her sister have somewhat different memories of the dish. Maybe there was carrots or celery…
“But all I remember is the onion,” Sussman wrote. “And there was a lot of onion schmaltzy as the chicken roasted and the juices were released directly into the roasting pan.”
As in most Jewish cookbooks, onions appear everywhere. sabbath day.
“They’ve always been a staple of Jewish culture because they’re so versatile, storable and cheap,” Sussman told me. “I think of them as a cross-cultural addition to Jewish cuisine. They can add a lot of sweetness, texture, and richness to a dish. And at least in Ashkenazi cuisine, where the palate for spice was limited, Spices were essential to the flavor of many dishes, both in raw and cooked form.
Her ultimate egg salad recipe involves slowly caramelizing three thinly sliced onions and layering them on top of chopped, mayo-dusted eggs.
“Use a serving spoon to add as many onions to your serving as you like (I’m sure you’ll like a lot),” she advises.
she Kavedo Kazutz (chopped liver) is loaded with caramelized onions, which are the only onions that appear on their own in the “Allium Extravaganza” with onion and leek balsamic sauce. This combination also includes shallots and garlic, all roasted together until glossy and melt-tender. . If you want to cry well, give it a try. (If not, try soaking the onion in ice water for about 30 minutes before slicing, which should thwart the onion’s fierce defense mechanism.)
- 3 medium green onions
- 3-4 medium red onions
- 6 small to medium yellow onions
- 6-8 shallots
- 10-15 large garlic cloves
- 3-4 sprigs of fresh sage, oregano, and thyme
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable soup
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 olive oil, more for drizzle
- 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses, honey, or maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
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Preheat oven to 425°F.
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Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Fill a large bowl halfway with ice and add water to create an ice bath. Cut off the base and dark green hard part of the green onion, then make a vertical incision with a paring knife. Do not cut until the end. Wash the green onions with a fan and cut them into 3-4 cm lengths. Peel the papery outer layers of the red and yellow onions and cut off 1/2 inch from each end.
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Add the shallots to the boiling water and cook for 2 minutes. Transfer to an ice bath using a spider or slotted spoon. Add the red and yellow onions to the water. Boil for 5 minutes, then remove to an ice bath. Cool for 3 minutes. Peel the shallots and remove the papery outer skin from the onions. Use a paring knife to make a 1-inch “x” cut in the bottom of the red and yellow onions. Stand the onions up in a 10-inch or 12-inch skillet or round baking dish and wedge the green onions in and around the onions. Place the shallots in the pan (they should all fit snugly in the pan, but a little space is fine), sprinkle with the garlic, and arrange the herb sprigs on top.
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Combine the broth, vinegar, olive oil, pomegranate molasses, salt, and pepper in a bowl and pour over the vegetables, then top with the oil. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes, until the onions are soft and can be easily pierced with a fork.
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Remove lid, reduce heat to 400°F, and cook until everything is golden brown and the liquid in the pot has thickened slightly, 35 to 40 minutes. Season with salt and add the onions and green onions along with the soup.
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