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Stuffed Spanish Onions
6 onions cooked chicken bread crumbs salt pepper 2 tablespoons melted shortening Peel onions, scoop out from top a portion of the center. Parboil five minutes, turn upside down to drain. Fill them with the stuffing made of equal parts chicken or any other left-over meat and the other ingredients, including the chopped onion taken from center of large ones. Fill onions heaping full, sprinkle the tops with buttered bread crumbs. Place in pan with 1 inch water, cover, let cook in oven for 1 hour or till tender. Remove cover last 5 minutes to brown the crumbs. Serves 6.
A tidy way to use up cooked chicken, written in the shorthand of a 1930s menu booklet: no quantities for the filling, no oven temperature. Both are easy to supply.
- Oven temperatureThe recipe gives none. Covered with an inch of water in the pan, a moderate oven of 350F for the hour is right; the steam does most of the work.
- Filling quantitiesFor six large onions, figure about 1 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken, an equal volume of soft bread crumbs, the scooped-out onion centers chopped, and the 2 tablespoons melted shortening, seasoned well. It should hold together when pressed but not be pasty.
- Spanish onionsThe large, mild onions, usually pale yellow or white skinned, and often half a pound or more each. Anything much smaller will not hold a useful amount of stuffing. Trim the root end flat so they sit upright.
- ParboilingFive minutes only softens the outer layers, which is the point; the hour in the covered pan finishes them. Drain them cut-side down thoroughly or the filling turns to mush.
- ShorteningIn this period that meant vegetable shortening or lard. Butter is better here for flavor, and you need a little extra to toss with the crumbs for the topping.
- Buttered crumbsMix dry crumbs with melted butter before they go on. Dry crumbs alone will scorch rather than brown in the five uncovered minutes.
- SeasoningWith cooked leftover meat and bread as the bulk, this is bland unless salted firmly. Poultry seasoning, thyme, or a spoonful of stock or gravy in the filling all help.
- ServingSix onions, one per person, as a main course with the pan juices spooned over. Halved, they also serve as a vegetable course for a larger table.