Onions are arguably the stars of the kitchen. They are cheap, readily available and crucial for laying the foundations of so many dishes, across countless cooking cultures.
Few good dishes I cook start without an onion, and I love how they can be taken to both ends of the flavour spectrum, from bracingly pickled to sweetly slow-cooked, almost caramel in texture.
That onions are essential to so much cooking is no secret, yet – save for the occasional onion soup à la Julia Child, the odd tart, perhaps a chutney or a pickled onion as a sidekick for other things – rarely do they take the limelight.
So, this week, I decided to put onions well and truly centre stage with two of my favourite allium preparations: butter-basted roast onions with the warm, gentle notes of bay and star anise, and failsafe crispy shallots (which also work with onions), which make everything you eat better. Here – beyond the full recipes that follow – are 10 ideas to show you how:
1 They’re an excellent garnish for Asian salads, such as gado gado.
2 They’re great on top of a curry, a dal or a laksa.
3 You can scatter them over a stir fry or a noodle dish like a pad thai, and …
4 ...pile them into a cheese sandwich with some sharp pickle.
5 They are the best finish to scrambled eggs and an unbeatable filling for an omelette.
6 You can sprinkle them over a shakshuka or spicy huevos rancheros.
7 With some sour cream and chopped green chillies they are great on a chilli.
8 They make any autumnal or winter soup that much tastier.
9 They’ll improve a buttered baked potato – or, even better, a sweet potato – with a dab of creme fraiche and a pinch of chopped capers.
10 Lastly, they are the perfect finishing touch to a rich autumn tomato pasta.
Star anise and brown butter baked onions
Eat these with good bread or a plump warm grain, such as spelt, and some soft goat’s cheese, or even roughly chopped and stirred-through buttered noodles or pasta. They also make a good side. Vegans can use olive oil instead of butter here.
Serves 8
60g unsalted butter
4 star anise
6 bay leaves
10 medium onions
Salt and pepper
1 Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Put the butter into a pan with the star anise and bay and allow it to melt. Put to one side while you get on with everything else.
2 Peel the onions and cut the bottoms so they sit flat, keeping the pointed tops intact. Put them on a baking tray cut-side down. Evenly pour over the scented butter and then sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3 Put in the hot oven to bake for 35-40 minutes. Check and baste halfway through, then continue to cook until soft and almost buttery. Remove from the oven and alow them to cool slightly before serving.
Top-anything crispy shallots
As I mentioned earlier, this crunchy garnish will happily top anything from a bowl of noodles even just a fried egg or some avocado on toast. They pretty much make anything savoury a bit better. This recipe makes a good jarful.
Makes one jar
6 banana shallots
Rapeseed or other flavourless oil
Sprinkle of sea salt
1 Slice the shallots as thin as you can – if you have one, you can use a mandolin to get them really wafer thin and this will make sure they cook evenly). Fill a saucepan with 2-3cm of room-temperature rapeseed oil and heat the oil.
2 Once hot, add the shallots. Watch the bubbles. First you’ll see small bubbles, then more rapid ones as the water from the shallots evaporates off. Cook on a high heat. When the bubbles subside, it means the moisture has cooked off the shallots – and they should look golden brown.
3 Transfer the cooked shallots to a paper towel-lined surface to cool completely. Store any leftovers in a jar (not in the fridge) and use over a couple of days.
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Anna Jones is a chef, writer and author – her latest book is The Modern Cook’s Year (Fourth Estate); annajones.co.uk; @we_are_food
