Saturday, August 29, 2009

Chip-oh-LEE-nee Onions

These little discs of onion heaven were available as part of my CSA share this week, YAY! I have always wanted to try them, thought about trying to grow them, but decided on the familiar sweet and red globe onions instead. Well here they are, right in my very own kitchen. Roasting seems to be just about all you can (or should) do with them, but I can't help but thinking they would make a nice Onion Soup for two! If only I had more than half a pound....



Dr. Gourmet.com says this about Cipollini Onions:

"Pronounced chip-oh-LEE-nee this is a smaller, flat, pale onion. The flesh is a slight yellowish color and the skins are thin and papery. The color of the skin ranges from pale yellow to the light brown color of Spanish onions. These are sweeter onions, having more residual sugar than garden-variety white or yellow onions, but not as much as shallots.

The advantage to cipollinis is that they are small and flat and the shape lends them well to roasting. This combined with their sweetness makes for a lovely addition to recipes where you might want to use whole caramelized onions.

These can be a little more difficult to find as they are not as popular. Specialty markets and grocery stores will have them but even my Whole Foods has spotty availability. They are harvested in autumn and may not be easily available year round (or may be quite expensive in other seasons). "
Maybe I will roast them and do a BBQ Chicken Pizza, substituting them for the usual caramelized red onions........when all else fails put it in a pizza, thats my motto!

4 comments:

Ruth Trowbridge said...

remember to save one to plant next year, especially if organic - it will flower and you can collect the seed to plant in 2011 - you got to start early to play the game to the fullest - thanks for the info, i always look forward to reading your posts, peace

Kelly said...

Oh, I never would have thought to do that Rose, once again, THANKS!!!

Ms B. Thrift said...

My husband wonders whether you do delivery orders for BBQ Chicken pizza- his favourite?! :)
Sounds delicious!
You sowing sounds busy but what delicious offerings you will get in a few months, i hope you have plenty of luck with them!

Corner Gardener Sue said...

Is this the photo for the catalog? It is a great one. Congratulations! I have received form emails asking to have my blog on different sites, but not something like that.