There should be a National Onion Month or something. Onions are so always-available and so cheap that we take them for granted. Let’s pretend that March is National Onion Month and imagine how drab life would be without onions.
Are there things in your kitchen that you stock a bit ahead as insurance against running out? For me, that’s mayonnaise, salt, olive oil — and onions. I’d almost sooner run out of wine than onions.
Once upon a time, we ate mostly yellow onions, though white onions could be had, and even red onions, sometimes. Now — at least in the United States — sweet, Vidalia-style onions are available year round. I don’t often buy yellow onions or red onions, but both sweet onions (for eating raw) and white onions (for cooking) are must-haves. A friend of mine once said that she started chopping onions before she knew what was for supper.
And I do eat them raw. It is said that an apple a day keeps the doctor away. If that’s true, then it’s also true of onions. Years ago, while driving through the mountains of Mexico, I ordered an onion sandwich ( … de cebolla, con mayonesa, por favor) in a little restaurant. A few minutes later, two women peeked out of the kitchen to see who the crazy person was, and the waiter brought an onion to the table to make sure that there wasn’t a problem with my Spanish. But they brought me a nice onion sandwich, sliced thin and in layers, mayonnaise on both sides, just right.
4 Comments
Yes, the lowly onion does deserve a month named in its honor. One of our favorites is a side dish of bell peppers and Visalia onions sautéed in olive oil. We usually have that with steak, baked potatoes and another side of sautéed mushrooms. This meal is a real treat and we do not eat like that often.
Hi, Jo: Yum… 🙂
This story is so funny
I soon walk off a cliff then eat a raw onion sandwich!
As a child my mom cooked everything with onions – (liver/onions/spaghetti sauce with uncooked onions, scrambled eggs onions) to this day my brothers still talk about her onion dishes and we still try to get each other to try an onion sandwich. During our meals we slowly picked out every onion pushing them to the side – while my father eyeballed us with a scowl. The boys were required to sweep up after supper and of course a pound or two of onions would be under the table.
Don’t get me wrong, I sauté onions for many recipes I follow, but never raw
Hi, Henry: You don’t know what you’re missing! 🙂
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