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Stuffed Onions
6 Spanish onions 1 cup bread crumbs 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 egg 1 cup pecans, chopped 3 tablespoons chopped parsley 1/8 teaspoon white pepper 1 cup soup stock, or 1 cup milk Peel onions and boil whole in salted water. Cool and remove centers. Mix together the other ingredients and stuff the onions. Place in greased baking dish, dot with shortening and bake in moderate oven until brown. Serves 6.
A straightforward baked vegetable dish that depends almost entirely on how far you take the initial boiling. The recipe gives no times, so both stages need judgment.
- Moderate ovenRead that as 350F. The onions are already cooked through, so the oven is only setting the stuffing and browning the tops — 25 to 35 minutes is usually enough.
- Boil the onions barely tenderSpanish onions this size need roughly 20 to 25 minutes at a gentle simmer. Take them out while a skewer still meets resistance at the center; fully soft onions collapse when you hollow them and again in the oven.
- Spanish onionsLarge, mild onions, commonly around 1/2 lb to 1 lb each; the recipe does not specify a size. Sweet varieties such as Vidalia or Walla Walla can be substituted. Ordinary yellow cooking onions will work but taste much sharper.
- Don't waste the centersThe recipe says to remove them and then never mentions them. Chop the scooped-out flesh and work it into the stuffing — it is the difference between a filling that tastes of onion and one that tastes of bread.
- The liquid is not all for the fillingThe liquid -- As written, the whole cup of stock or milk goes into the filling, which will make a very wet mixture with a cup of crumbs and a cup of nuts. Add it a few spoonfuls at a time until the mixture just holds together, and the remainder can be poured around the onions in the dish so they steam rather than dry out.
- Bread crumbsSoft fresh crumbs give a lighter filling; dry commercial crumbs absorb far more liquid and want the higher end of the cup. Toasting the pecans first for 8 minutes deepens the flavor considerably.
- Dot with shorteningHere that most likely means lard or vegetable shortening, though the word was also used loosely for any solid fat, butter included. Butter is an easy substitute and browns well, about 2 tablespoons total across six onions.
- ServingSix onions, one per person, as a side dish. With stock rather than milk and a green salad it stands up as a light main course.