I remember the first time someone clued me in that it was possible to make salsa at home, I was agog (I was 13). It took me a few minutes to wrap my head around the fact that it didn't need to come from the grocery store in a jar or a tub. Even more amazing was that the ingredients were fairly basic and easy to come by. Fast forward about fifteen years and homemade salsa fresca is one of my favorite summer treats. Here's what you do.
Pull out a mixing bowl. Take 1 huge tomato to two medium-sized ones and cube them into 1/2 inch square (no need to be perfect). Mince up an onion, seed and dice a jalepeno (if you don't want your fingertips to burn for the rest of the day, wear gloves), crush two or three cloves of garlic and top it off with a handful of chopped cilantro. Hit the veggies with the juice of one lime and a generous pinch of salt. Stir it and let it sit for a while (I recommend at least an hour before eating). I make it in a lidded bowl, so that I can mix and store it easily. Eat it with tortilla chips, over scrambled eggs, on top of beans and rice or simply with a spoon, straight out of the bowl.
Some of the herbs are well known to have medicinal uses, like turmeric and cloves, but did you know that onions (and other vegetables related to onions) have been used for centuries as medicines? Apparently they have anti-inflammatory properties. Also, rosemary, cinnamon, and parsley (great for detoxifying carcinogens from cigarette smoke) are just some of the surprising (to me) herbs on the list.
There is no way this list can be complete, though. If you study a natural product long enough, you're sure to find lots of healthy qualities. Does anyone have any herbs they'd like to add? If you disagree with this list, I'd love to read about that, too.
I'm typically too busy crying to stop and appreciate just how pretty an onion is. This amazing photo by The Barefoot Kitchen Witch makes the onion looks like a piece of crystal in a museum, the rings of a tree trunk, or a sky at sunset. Don't stop with this photo, though. To complete your onion appreciation class, be sure to view The Barefoot Kitchen Witch's other onion photos as well. Each is equally stunning and features different angles of this familiar food.
Next time I cut up an onion, I'm going to hold it under the light and take a closer look.
What does this onion look like to you? Have you stopped before to appreciate the onion's attractiveness?
These fine specimins above are called calçots, a type of scallion grown in the Tarragona province of Catalonia in northeastern Spain. In spring, locals eat calçots at community feats called calçotadas - essentially barbecues, but with onions instead of cheeseburgers. Calçots are roasted on a grate over coals, leaving them charred on the outside but creamy on the inside. They're served on a terracotta roof tile or wrapped in newspaper to keep them warm, then peeled at the table and eaten dipped in pungent red romesco sauce, made with tomatoes, garlic, ground almonds and peppers. The local version is called salbitxada - see a recipe for it here. If you're not living in calçot country use it on leeks or roasted sweet onions.
A Milan to Miami flight made an emergency landing in Boston's Logan International Airport last week after crew members were overcome with noxious fumes. The crew donned oxygen masks after smelling a foul odor, fearing it was a toxic gas. Boston firefighters and emergency workers in hazmat suits boarded the plane only to find...five tons of minced onions. The onions were unloaded from the plane and shipped by truck to their final destination.
Here at Slashfood we've devoted several posts to the onion-crying phenomenon. But I don't believe we've ever dealt with what to do when you've got 10,000 pounds of onion in your cargo hold...
I posted a couple weeks back about an scientist who is working on genetically modifying onions so that they don't make your tear ducts go crazy. I believe I said in the post I hate that part about onions. Well that's true, but it has been a long time since an onion has made me cry. Here's my secret.
Someone told me a few years ago to breath through my mouth when cutting onions. They said it was because the irritant in onions actually affects the nasal passage, and that results in tears.
The trick totally works. If I remember to breath through my mouth (which is the hard part, but it gets easier to remember), then I don't cry. I'm starting to doubt the reason I was told though. I just read a great explanation over at How Stuff Works. The article confirmed my trick, but not the reason why. I'll let you read for yourself, as the explanation is kind of long. Just try it: pretty soon you'll be whizzing your way through a sack of onions with absolutely no tears.
I love onions. I love the look of them, the way they smell when you cook them, and the way they taste. There is one thing about onions I don't like, though. I'm sure that a lot of people will agree with me on this one. I hate the way onions make you tear up when they are cut.
But I heard a great report on All Things Considered the other day about an onion that won't make you cry. The reporter spoke to a New Zealand plant geneticist who's been working on these onions. Collin Eady, from the Crop and Food Research institute, has found a way to block the gene in the onion cells which cause a person to tear up.
That mechanism is a natural defense for the onion. It's caused by the combination of the tearing gene and natural levels of sulfur in the cells of the bulb. Those components are separate in the whole cell, but its blinding power is unleashed when cut.
It will be a while before you'll see them in your local super market. The genetic modification would have to be proven safe for human consumption first. Or Mr. Eady could try and breed that quality into his onions, but that would take at least ten years anyway. Ah well. Stay tuned for some tips on how to avoid the tears when doing battle against those delicious bulbs.
This might be something that everyone else and their mothers (and likely, grandmothers) already knows, but since there has been all of about three occasions in my entire lifetime that I've ever worn pantyhose, I didn't know that you can use them to store onions.
Apparently, onions will stay fresh for six months if you store them in this way:
Take a pair of new pantyhose (they say you can use washed used pantyhose, but that sounds kind of gross to me -- even if they're washed, they still had someone's feet in them!)
Place the onions into the feet.
Tie a knot in the pantyhose between the onions.
Repeat this process. I have never seen it, but I am guessing it looks like a big old chain of onions.
Hang the onions in a cool, dry, and dark place
Cut an onion off the hose from the bottom each time you need an onion.
Neat! Now the only question is, would it be sexier to use fishnets?!?!
The only vegetables you really need for chili are onions and garlic for flavor, jalapenos for heat, and of course canned tomatoes to create the "gravy." However, I know that people like to add other vegetables either because they like particular vegetables, or they're trying to sneak some nutrition into their friends' and family's diets. Naturally, if you're making a vegetarian chili, additional vegetables like celery, carrots, and bell pepper make sense, but in a beef chili, why would you add carrots? Why?! You aren't fooling anyone.
Adding Vegetables to the Chili To the oil that's left in the pan you used to brown the meat, add 2 chopped medium onions, ½ to 1 whole head of smashed garlic cloves (depending on how much garlic you like), and 5-7 chopped fresh jalapenos. If you are adding other chopped vegetables, add them here, too. Cook for about 10 minutes to soften, then add to the beef in the crock.
Add 1 28 oz. can of whole tomatoes with the juice, crushing the tomatoes with your hands as you add them to the pot. Also add 3 cups of beef stock.
I love kale. There, I said it. It's one of those vegetables that often gets a bad rap, more frequently found as a green garnish around the edge of a salad bar than cooked and on your plate. However, I've found it to be one of the most forgiving and easy to cook of the leafy green family. It's also great to serve to guests, because it doesn't shrink down into a pile of nothing the way that spinach or chard does.
The only trick with kale is making sure you clean it sufficiently, as all those curly corners can trap dirt and grit, unpleasant things to bite down into. The first time I cooked kale, I didn't know just how rigorously it needed to be washed and had to throw the whole, aromatic, garlic-infused pan of bright green veg into the trash. I was not a happy camper that day.
I like to spend my mornings cruising the Maine byways, looking for farms and produce stands to put together a fresh and tasty lunch and dinner. I let the season control what is available and the daily finds are always a surprise.
This morning I came across a few nice tasty treats. Fresh green peas in the pod; firm, sweet, and an intense, summery green. Tiny, new, red potatoes the size of marbles. Sweet, green topped, early summer onions looking like fat golf balls. Farm fresh butter made from cultured sour cream and churned pale yellow and creamy with just a hint of sea salt. Local, double rich cream so thick it wouldn't even need whipping. I picked up a potted rosemary bush a deep, verdant green that I could put just outside my front door. Finally I stopped by a U-Pick strawberry field for some deep red, fat and luscious berries. I had some other items at home that would round out these items into a meal that would be full of summer flavors, filling but not too heavy.
In the summer I find I am just not as hungry as other times of the year unless I spend the day hiking or biking. I tend to eat less and much healthier, although I do like a wee bit of fat in my food to appease my craving for luxuriousness. I love soup and decided on a Fresh Pea, Baby Potato, and Sweet Onion Soup; blended into a smooth puree and with a hint of ginger, rosemary, and garlic. This would be a late lunch / early dinner that would be filling enough to last all evening; with just some fresh strawberries and cream for a dessert later in the evening.
Since chestnuts are somewhat synonymous with the Christmas season, they tend to get neglected in recipes that would otherwise be great year-round. Danielle at Habeas Brulee has proved that point in spades with a Pork and Chestnut Goulash recipe she found on the web and subsequently prepared.
The recipe itself is rather simple, but I'm sure the addition of 3 tablespoons of Hungarian Paprika to beautifully seared pork makes it taste anything but. Finished off with the chestnuts, onion, cider, stock, and seasonings, the simmered dish has a deep, rich color and would be great served on top of pasta (as pictured), rice, or potatoes.
If, by chance, you're firing up the grill for game day, this corn salsa is too easy to not be on your menu. If you've made fresh corn on the grill before, you know how simple it is. Grilled corn is great on it's own, with some butter, salt and pepper, or better yet, mayo, Parmesan cheese, lime juice and chili powder (seriously, try it).
The ingredients in this salsa are easy to vary and I generally just eyeball the amounts as I make it. A good place to start is: 8 average-sized ears of corn 1 medium red onion, sliced into 1/2" to 1" thick rounds (A few tooth picks or skewers in each will help to hold them together on the grill.) the juice of 2-3 limes a good handful of cilantro, finely chopped olive oil
Husk the ears of corn, giving them a rinse to get any last bits of silk off and grill them over fairly high, direct heat, turning them until the kernels begin to blister and darken all over. Brush the onion slices with a little olive oil and grill them as well. Once the corn is done and cool enough to handle, cut the kernels from the cobs with a sharp paring knife and put the kernels in a large bowl. When the onions have softened and taken on some color, pull them off the grill and chop them so they're about the same size as the corn kernels.
Wow. All I can say when I look at Meena's Chilli Paneer on her blog Hooked on Heat is "wow." Sometimes I wonder if in a previous lifetime I was an Indian princess (not just Indian, but a princess!) because the spices, flavors and ingredients of Indian cuisine give me shivers like no other. Aside from the fact that this dish is absolutely glisteningly gorgeous in the photo, I was totally taken by how long, er rather, short the preparation time is. Meena sears the Indian cottage cheese cubes (which, to me, have a texture similar to a crumbly tofu) in oil, then basically stir fries them with onions, garlic, and chili peppers. The dark color comes, oddly enough, from soy sauce.
A Milan to Miami flight made an emergency landing in Boston's Logan International Airport last week after crew members were overcome with noxious fumes. The crew donned oxygen masks after smelling a foul odor, fearing it was a toxic gas. Boston firefighters and emergency workers in hazmat suits boarded the plane only to find...five tons of 
I posted a couple weeks back about an scientist who is working on genetically modifying 
I love 
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