I rushed to try foie gras as soon as I got off the Moscow-Paris plane. The light slice of liver turned out to be soft, like butter, and spread effortlessly onto the toast. But nearby, in a small rosette, lay something mysterious: burgundy-transparent, thickly sweet. I realized who was really running the show on this plate only after spreading onion marmalade ...
We put onions in almost everything, often without even thinking about why. For example, if you lightly bake an onion in its husk in a dry frying pan and then put it in the broth, it will give it a pleasant color and taste. Simply adding onion to tomato sauce or meat stew turns into a faceless thickener. But if you spend 15 minutes patiently, slowly frying it, the onion will make the whole dish distinctly sweet.
Unlike most of us, the French realized long ago that onions more than deserved a starring role. What is one onion soup ! This means many hours of preparing a special meat broth, cleaning and slicing mountains of evil onions and endlessly stewing them. And they have been repeating all this for hundreds of years, because the result is worth it.
Onion cutlets
In cooking, onion dishes will allow you to diversify the usual menu with new taste sensations. True gourmets and vegetable connoisseurs are well aware of the nutritional value of the golden vegetable, so they prefer to consume it in any form. The onion can be boiled in sugar, baked with cheese or tomatoes, stuffed with mushrooms or marinated.
You don't have to use onions only in soups or salads. Try making delicious original onion cutlets. The dish turns out to be satisfying and dietary. The recipe is especially good for those gourmets who do not eat meat or are on a diet.
The low-calorie dish is an excellent option for a Lenten dinner.
The onion dish belongs to European cuisine and is especially appreciated by lovers of vegetable cutlets.
They cook very quickly. The recipe contains the following ingredients:
- 400 g onions;
- 150 g semolina;
- 2 chicken eggs;
- frying oil;
- salt;
- 1 cup of tomato juice;
- crushed black pepper.
After preparing the components, you can begin the main process.
Recipe:
- Peel the onion and chop with a knife. Place in a suitable container and rub with your hand until juice appears.
- Pour semolina into a bowl.
- Add eggs and mix thoroughly.
- Salt and pepper the mixture.
- Form cutlets from the onion mass.
- Heat sunflower oil in a frying pan.
- Fry the onion cutlets on both sides in hot oil until golden brown.
- At the end you need to add tomato juice, cover the dish and simmer until done for 4 minutes.
Serve as a side dish with mashed potatoes or pasta, garnishing the dish with chopped herbs.
Onions stuffed with champignons
There are many options for stuffed onions. There is a Greek onion, which uses tomato sauce, or a European version with lamb filling. The gravy for stuffed vegetables can be different - egg, tomato, lemon. However, chefs recommend trying stuffing the vegetable with mushrooms. In this case, it is better to choose juicy and beautiful champignons.
If you want to prepare an original onion appetizer, use a very tasty and unusual recipe for stuffed vegetables. For preparation you need:
- 4 medium onions;
- 4 tablespoons butter;
- 2 tablespoons cream;
- 250 g minced meat;
- 100 g champignons;
- a bunch of parsley;
- crushed black pepper;
- 120 ml. vegetable broth.
Cooking:
- Peeled onions need to be boiled a little in salted water.
- Remove the onion and wait for the water to drain.
- Cut off the top of the boiled vegetable and remove the center with a teaspoon.
- The removed pulp should be crushed.
- Peel the champignons, wash and slice thinly.
- Place the chopped onion mass in a frying pan and fry.
- Add mushrooms and minced meat to the pan.
- Salt and add ground pepper.
- Pour cream into the pan.
- Add chopped parsley.
- Stuff the onion heads with the resulting mixture and place them in a mold.
- Carefully pour in the broth and cover with a piece of foil.
- Place the pan in the oven and bake for 35 minutes.
The onion dish is incredibly tasty. It will perfectly decorate the festive table and will please all guests.
Onion salad "Pompadour"
There are a large number of onion-based salads. Every housewife adds onions to almost all salads dressed with vegetable oil or mayonnaise. This is not surprising; the vegetable goes well with carrots, eggs, cheese, potatoes, fish, and meat. Experts recommend preparing a very original onion salad based on apples for variety.
From the bulbs you can make a delicious multi-layer salad with eggs and apples. Main components of the dish:
- 2 onions;
- 2 green apples;
- 4 things. eggs;
- 100 g cheese;
- mayonnaise for dressing;
- lemon juice for sprinkling apples.
Recipe:
- Peel, wash the onions, rinse them with hot water and cut into rings.
- Boil the eggs and cut them into circles;
- Peel the apples, chop with a grater, sprinkle with lemon juice.
- Place the first onion layer in a salad bowl and brush with mayonnaise.
- Place apples and spread with mayonnaise.
- Place egg mugs and coat with mayonnaise.
- Sprinkle grated cheese on top and spread with mayonnaise.
The salad is decorated with egg yolk and grated cheese. Served as an additional appetizer to main courses.
Recommendations for the selection of raw materials and their preparation
To make the preparations tasty and well stored, you need to choose quality products. The bulbs should be strong and dense, with a smooth, intact husk, which is woven at the top of the fruit into a thin, dry rope without green feathers. The lower part of the head should be dry, without overgrown roots.
The main characteristics of quality fruits:
- hardness;
- slight crunch when pressed;
- small and medium head sizes;
- dry husk with uniform color.
The onion can be pickled whole, cut into 2-4 parts, chopped into rings or half rings. Before canning, the raw materials must be scalded with boiling water or, if you are preparing whole heads, blanched for 2-3 minutes.
The recommended thickness for cutting rings is 0.5 cm (as in the photo) - this way the onion will remain crispy and will not fall apart during the canning process
To prepare onion marinades, it is better to use soft vinegar (fruit, wine or rice) or replace it with citric acid. To add additional aroma and original taste, the marinade filling can be prepared based on pomegranate, beet, citrus or berry juice. Onions go well with a wide variety of herbs and spices - use your imagination and experiment with accompanying ingredients.
Onions with cheese in Polish
Try the onion recipe by blanching it in sugar syrup for a few minutes. This simple dish from Polish cuisine can be found today in national restaurants in Poland. It is very nutritious and has an unusual bittersweet taste. Many vegetable connoisseurs will appreciate such food.
This original dish will be a real find for many cooks and will undoubtedly appeal to everyone at home. Ingredients needed for preparation:
- 1 PC. onions;
- 1 tsp. melted butter;
- ground crackers;
- 1 tsp. Sahara;
- shredded cheese;
- salt to taste.
Recipe:
- Peel the onion, wash it and cut it into 4-8 large pieces.
- You need to boil water over a fire and salt it.
- Add 1 teaspoon of sugar to water.
- Place onion slices in water and boil.
- Remove the onion and place in a colander.
- Place the vegetable on a plate and pour melted butter over it.
- Sprinkle the prepared onion with ground breadcrumbs and cheese.
Serve with fried potatoes and chopped herbs. The vegetable perfectly absorbs the sweetness of sugar and acquires an interesting rich taste.
Beet
Beets also feel very good next to onions. The root crops of this plant grow larger in such proximity. In addition, by planting beets next to onions, you can harvest them faster.
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According to many summer residents, it is better to plant beets on the south side of the onion bed. In this case, the tall feathers will slightly shade the landing. As a result, the beets will begin to grow more actively.
Armenian onion soup
Onion soups have been used in the cooking of many peoples since time immemorial. Moreover, a wide variety of classes ate onion soup. The dish was present on the tables of aristocrats and nobles, and was also a frequent lunch for ordinary peasants. The availability of onions allowed poor people to constantly cook the vegetable and manage to diversify the onion menu with first and second courses.
Armenian cuisine is also famous for its onion soup. A variety of spices and herbs are added to it for pungency and piquant taste. Bread pieces in the broth give the soup a special flavor.
In Europe, this onion soup is prepared with fried bread croutons.
Any housewife can prepare soup with various onion spices for lunch. For an Armenian dish you need:
- 3 onions;
- bread;
- garlic;
- butter;
- salt;
- 1 egg;
- Bay leaf;
- crushed pepper;
- carnation;
- greenery.
Recipe:
- Coarsely chop the garlic and onion, fry the ingredients in butter. Place in a bowl and fill with water.
- Add salt and pepper, bay leaf, cloves.
- Let the water boil.
- Beat raw eggs with a small amount of cold water.
- Carefully pour the egg mixture into the spicy warm broth and stir.
- Cut the bread into small pieces and add to the broth..
The dish is served to the table when the bread is completely swollen. Top the soup with chopped herbs. The soup turns out tasty and nutritious.
Stewed onions with tomatoes and cheese
Onions can not only be boiled or fried, but also stewed with cheese and tomatoes. If desired, you can add a variety of vegetables to this stew - from zucchini to potatoes. Tender and juicy feta cheese is perfect as a cheese.
The frequent use of vegetables in cooking can be diversified with a simple and tasty recipe. Try cooking onion vegetables with tomatoes and cheese. You will need:
- 400 g onions;
- 500 g cheese;
- tomatoes;
- frying oil;
- a bunch of parsley.
Recipe:
- Place peeled chopped onion in a frying pan and fry it in vegetable oil.
- Add chopped tomatoes.
- After 5 minutes, add cheese to the mixture.
- Cover the top with a layer of onions and tomatoes.
- Cover the dish with a lid and simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes.
Serve the dish hot, sprinkled with fresh chopped parsley.
Dessert
Ingredients:
- Crimean onion (purple) – 2 pcs.
- Cane sugar – 3 tbsp.
- Liquid honey – 1 tbsp.
- Sugar – 2 tbsp.
- Crackers – 100g.
- Protein – 2 pcs.
- Butter – 50g.
- Vinegar – 1 tbsp.
Preparing dessert:
- Chop the onion thoroughly. We fry it in oil with the gradual addition of cane sugar.
- Beat the egg whites with a mixer, continuing to beat, adding sugar a little at a time.
- Pour vinegar into the whites and mix.
- Place the crackers on a greased baking sheet.
- Place fried onions on crackers. Top it with whipped whites.
- Bake for ten minutes at 160 degrees.
- Drizzle with honey and be amazed at the amazing taste of the dessert.
Golden onions in the oven
Baking onions in the oven is traditional for many cuisines around the world. The vegetable turns out fragrant, aromatic, with a rich taste. The golden dish is very easy to prepare. Its preparation does not require any special culinary knowledge or experience.
The dish can serve as a complement to potatoes or other side dish. To prepare it, you need to bake the onions in the oven. Required ingredients:
- 5-6 medium sized onions;
- olive oil;
- any spices;
- salt;
- grated cheese.
Preparation:
- The bulbs should be cut directly with part of the husk into 4 parts.
- Drizzle vegetable slices with olive oil.
- Sprinkle the watered onions with salt and various spices.
- Place the slices on a baking sheet and wrap it in foil.
- Place the baking sheet in the oven for 1 hour and bake at 180 degrees.
- Remove the foil and sprinkle the onions with grated cheese shortly before they are fully cooked.
This original appetizer is perfect for dinner and will certainly please everyone at home.
conclusions
All marinades act quickly when preparing a dish, from half an hour to 60 minutes. The structure of the vegetable allows liquid to pass inside in a short period of time. For a richer flavor, marinate for a week.
Onions serve as a decoration for dishes; you can take them to a barbecue on a picnic, add them to a salad, or add them to fried meat, and herring with this seasoning is a delicious dish.
The use of additional ingredients of sunflower oil, mayonnaise, herbs and spices enhances the taste and gives a spicy aroma. In addition, a vegetable with apple cider vinegar has many beneficial properties: anti-inflammatory, disinfectant, antiviral, diuretic.