Friday, May 13, 2011

Springtime Onions

I'm not a fan of onions, but I saw them everywhere at the farmers market last weekend. And while I don't really like to cook with them, I find them quite beautiful, from the pearly white bulbs to the intense purple.

What's interesting about the onions I saw at the farmers market was that many of them still had the green stalks on them, some almost a foot long. Some of the smaller bulbs with the long stalks could be green onions on steroids, but others had a huge bulb that looked like a full-sized onion. With the warmer weather approaching (one can dream, OK?), I bet some of these onions would be amazing on the grill. So how have you been enjoying your spring onions?





7 comments:

foodhoe said...

I had a grilled spring onion in a salad yesterday, kinda liked it. It was largely intact, so hard to eat and fibrous... but it made the dish look very festive.

The Librarian said...

I bought some at a farmers' market because they looked so pretty. I trimmed and split them and used them as a bed for the great lemon roast chicken recipe from the new Saveur comfort food cookbook. The onions didn't really add much, and next time I'll just use regular ones. But they do look nice!

Single Guy Ben said...

LOL, so sounds like so far the onions are more for aesthetic. Foodhoe, I love the idea of grilled spring onions, but probably not in a salad, but I've seen it at restaurants as a base for an appetizer, then you can use your fork and knife to cut it down a bit. Librarian, that sounded so amazing with the roast lemon chicken, I feel like trying it. I wonder if you're supposed to chop up the onion and serve it as a side after it's been cooked down by the chicken fat?

The Librarian said...

Actually the onions weren't part of the Saveur recipe - I just thought they would go well together. (I also left out the rosemary from the chicken recipe becuase I'm not a fan.) I'd recommend the Saveur cookbook. Lots of really good sounding recipes and interesting writing. And I got it from the public library (of course) so it didn't cost anything!

Hungry Dog said...

When we were in Barcelona we had whole grilled spring onions served with romesco sauce. Delicious!

kitchenbeard said...

I took one of those and diced it up with a few yukons, tossed in oil and then roasted at 400 for about 30 minutes and then threw in some thai basil and a caper vinaigrette.

Carolyn Jung said...

Spring onions and spring garlic are such a treat. Love adding them to soups, roasted potatoes and grilled fish.