Weekend Cook and Tell: Unsung Heros of the Kitchen
Welcome to the Weekend Cook and Tell. Every Wednesday we scan the food sections of various national newspapers to come up with an article or recipe to inspire a weekend cooking project. We want all of you to cook along with us and share your experiences, recipes, and photos.
This week's idea comes from Kristine Subido of the Chicago Sun-Times. She wrote a great little piece entitled Ingredients That Get No Respect. It's all about highlighting the ingredients that usually act as background players in our everyday cooking, namely carrots, celery, and onions. Everyone knows that sauteing these vegetables together makes a flavorful base for sauces and stocks, but what about letting them shine on their own?
These ingredients have served us all very well over the years, why not give them an opportunity to take center stage? Here are a few ideas to get you started: Braised carrots or celery, a fresh celery salad with celery leaves and a simple vinaigrette, pickled or caramelized onions, or a chilled carrot soup. This week's challenge is to make a dish using one of the unsung heros of your kitchen. Don't limit yourself to carrots, celery, and onions. If there is an underappreciated ingredient that you use in your everyday cooking that you want to feature, go for it!
Of course we want to hear all about the dishes that you are making at home. Show us your photos on Photograzing (make sure to include "Cook and Tell" in your submission title) and tell us about your recipes in Talk with comments on this thread! If you'd like to blog along from home, leave a link to your Cook and Tell blog post in the comments. We'll post a round-up of your photos and recipes next Wednesday.
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21 Comments:
A while ago we did this Piemontese-style baked onion dish (from the excellent Autumn in Piemonte which was really awesome and strange because it was literally simply preparing an onion to eat on its own, with minimal ingredients (we just used some butter, herbs, garlic, and olive oil and baked them for a while).
It was a pretty cool experiment, and something I'd like to try again once the weather is something other than oppressively hot: http://takebackyourkitchen.com/2009/08/05/02-07-09-dinner-piemonte-style-subtitle-baked-onions-and-veal-cutlets/
I didn't include the recipe in the original post, but I certainly can include our interpretation if anyone is interested...
If we do anything this weekend, I will be sure to post it here!
ElizabethS at 11:41PM on 08/19/09
Although I am traveling this weekend, I'll throw out my suggestion: Stuffed onions with bacon and butter. Its a Neely's from the Food Network recipe, and I've always thought it was a great way to celebrate the onion...and bacon :)
SuzyHomemaker at 2:18PM on 08/20/09
add in some blue cheese and you have a real winner.
DELICIOUS at 4:54PM on 08/20/09
I had an awesome onion souffle at a restaurant the other day - totally the kind of thing you're talking about here...it took a background ingredient and really made it sing. Wonder if I can find a way to make it...
ktlb22 at 8:51AM on 08/21/09
This makes me hungry for an onion tart.
oh_no_eric at 12:55PM on 08/21/09
Earlier this week this site had a recipe for a caramelized onion and potato tart that would very definitely make the humble onion the star of the show. I've already saved the recipe and can't wait to try it out.
zilli at 10:02PM on 08/21/09
This type of discussion always reminds me of the shock displayed by people when I make tabbouleh or an onion confit. To take an ingredient and make it a star is quite foreign to some. Properly made tabbouleh is a parsley salad with grain, not a grain salad with parsley.
Martha Stewart has a great recipe for glazed onions that I serve as a side.
My aunt make a rolled stuffed roast and used parsley as one of the main stuffing ingredients. My cousin said, "Mom, why so much parsley, it's a spice for crying out loud." First of all, it's an HERB and secondly he needed to broaden his horizons.
therealchiffonade at 7:10AM on 08/23/09
Mmm...
A favorite holiday treat. I received this recipe via a recipe email loop years ago, but the contributor did not say whether it was her own recipe or one she found elsewhere.
Carrot Souffle Recipe
Contributor: WhiteFishB
3 pounds carrots, sliced
1-1/2 cups butter
6 large eggs
1/2 cup flour
1 TBS baking powder
3 cups sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Cook carrots in boiling water to cover for 15 minutes until tender; drain. In food processor or blender, add carrots, butter and remaining ingredients. Process until smooth. Stop to scrape down sides. Spoon into a 2 quart lightly greased souffle dish. Bake at 350°F for one hour until set and lightly browned. Serve immediately.
Gator Pam at 11:33AM on 08/23/09
There was an excellent restaurant in Seattle but unfortunately I have forgotten its name. Anyway, they stuffed a whole large onion that had been poached or roasted in chicken stock and then was stuffed with spaghetti. if anyone knows what I'm talking about, please post. It was fabulous. My memory is not doing it justice.
rooney at 2:24PM on 08/23/09
Love, love, love to make French onion soup!
soozm32 at 2:32PM on 08/23/09
I recently made carmelized onion bruschetta w/ blue cheese crumbles. It was perfect. Just sliced carmelized onions served warm on toasted slices of french bread, with some crumbled blue cheese on top. So simple and so good.
gbania at 3:21PM on 08/23/09
Carmelize onions slowly and when they have completely turned color add sliced mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms release juice and turn color as well. Salt and pepper, of course.
suegsf at 2:01AM on 08/24/09
Today I made a pureed soup staring...carrots. I've been craving pureed soups all week, and with a lack of squash and no craving for potatoes I decided to try out the carrot I so dearly love to snack on. I must say they have a VERY strong flavor....which is typical of any vegetable in such a soup, but...I now would definitly notice and appreciate it in other things. It's so sweet and unique.
I might do something with onions....I saw a recipe for onion marmalade awhile back that sounds yummy. We go through onions like crazy in this house.
eggyzhe at 5:01AM on 08/24/09
If it weren't so hot I'd be roasting an onion or making baked onion rings. But it's been terribly muggy, so I've been eating lots of peppers and onions sauteed together. Some til they're caramelized, and some til they're just soft. Over rice or not. With Keilbasa or not. Some with a sort of terriyaki sauce - hot pepper, ginger, garlic, sugar, soy sauce, apricot brandy, all cooked down til syrupy, with a spoon of sour cream.
Hard for me to think of onion as an unsung hero. Not a day goes by that I don't eat onions. I've always loved this quote from the Bible, of the Israelites complaining of the food in the wilderness: "We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic." Amen.
@suegsf - my kind of food.
lemonfair at 6:49AM on 08/24/09
This weekend I made these carrots the way my Aunt taught me about 40 years ago. You can see them here: http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/1584/006taj.jpg
Cut carrots uniformly. I used about 1 1/2 pounds. Put them in a large skillet. Add 1/3 cup olive oil, salt, cracked pepper, juice from 1 small lemon, a smidge of sugar, get about a handful of fresh herbs (I used thyme, basil and oregano) and tie up in a cheesecloth bag. Add very hot water to just cover the carrots then simmer until just done. They should not be soft, but have a little bite to them. Drain the carrots and reserve the liquid. Reduce the liquid in half and toss into carrots. Serve just sllightly chilled or at room temp. Simple but delicious.
finsbigfan at 9:46AM on 08/24/09
my friend has a recipe in her family for something called "carrot mold" which is a savory carrot cake baked in a bundt pan. they serve it on thanksgiving and most major holidays. it's absolutely delicious. i can't share the recipe because i promised i wouldn't, but it's basically grated carrots, flour, butter, brown sugar, eggs, and baking powder. i've tweaked the recipe over the years to make it less sweet and more carrot tasting. it's one of my favorite things for sunday brunch, along with a soup and some salad. i've tried adding herbs like nutmeg or clove, but that hides the taste of the carrot, which is so beautiful on its own.
cybercita at 12:19PM on 08/24/09
eggs, onions, peppers, mushrooms... so often the bridesmaids, never the brides. Except when it comes to a perfect omelette, cooked up according to alton brown's directions. I have never produced an omelette of this quality- the eggs were golden brown on the outside, the fold was right down the middle, and the ingredients completely incorporated. the result was satisfying, just a tad buttery, a tad crunchy, a tad chewey and with a distinct garden vegetable bouquet.
mr guy at 1:27PM on 08/24/09
I featured a baba ghanouj made with a can of beans on my blog (http://worstvegetarianever.blogspot.com/2009/08/unsung-heroes.html) the beans turned my small eggplant into dip for a crowd and also replaced the relatively pricey tahini in the original recipe.
wilma at 3:17PM on 08/24/09
my roommate and i spent this summer learning how to cook for ourselves, and we discovered for ourselves the awesomeness of onions. my mom doesn't really like onions or garlic (i know, right?), so i bever had the chance to cook with them at home. anyway, we made polenta and this ridiculously easy tomato-onion sauce, then layered the sliced polenta with the sauce and some ricotta, and baked it...wow.
trepidatiousbaker at 4:49PM on 08/24/09
I'm from South Georgia, and my grandmother made this at every family meal.
Onion Pie
1 - 1 1/2 stacks Ritz crackers (depending on how thick you want the crust part to be, I use 1 1/2)
1/2 to 1 stick butter melted, depending on how much crackers you use. I don't measure anything -- use enough melted butter to make the crackers stick in the pie plate like a graham cracker crust.
Press this into a 9" pie plate, bake at 350 or so for 8-10 minutes. No need to cool before adding the filling. You don't even have to pre-bake, but it's crispier if you do.
For the onions, saute 2 pounds (or more if you really like onions) of thinly sliced sweet onions (Vidalia are the best, slice from root to stem end, if you slice crosswise the cooked pieces look like worms!) in a stick of butter (or less, it'll work, just stir more often to keep from burning) on medium-low heat for a pretty long time, stirring a bit along the way, until they are very soft and a little caramelized. Add some fresh thyme or other herbs (I've done it with rosemary and basil, thyme is the best to me) Salt and pepper, of course, I always forget to mention that.
Spread the caramelized onions into the ritz cracker shell. Top with a couple handfuls of shredded cheese (your choice). Bake until the cheese is melted and brown.
I make this way too often because it's so good but so fattening. But I think about my grandmother every time I make it, and it is such wonderful memories! If anyone makes it, I would love to hear from you!
Pam from Georgia
pharris123 at 7:35PM on 08/31/09
I like to unbalance a traditional ragu by increasing the celery ratio - the results are kind of American-Chinese tasting and excellent with a cab franc.
samueltobin at 11:20PM on 09/02/09