"shallots" news and stories

Are shallots and onions interchangeable?

When trying to get rid of leftovers, it's easy to throw them into a stew, salad, or some other bowled smorgasbord of flavor. It can be a bit trickier to make a meal out of them that doesn't look like leftover land.

Granted, these leftovers aren't the pre-cooked kind, but what remained after a week of cooking and a journey through the freezer. We've got an eye of round dry-rubbed with a mixture of random spices, fingerling potatoes tossed in olive oil, herbs, and shallots and roasted in the toaster oven, and garlic and shallot-based saute of chard and bok choy.

The roasted shallots came off crispy, which made them the perfect topping to cover some old chevre. Now, I'm usually not a big fan of masking steak with other flavors, but when you're talking about a thick piece of meat, one that's been frozen for a few months, a little cheese and shallots go a long way. They swim with the juice of the meat, and team perfectly with garlicky greens and herby potatoes.

For a quick and simple meal, it really can't be beat.

There are many times that people have told me I was nuts for popping to Costco for a grocery run every now and then. They'd laugh over my huge packages of toilet paper and dish soap, and say that they don't think it's worth the steep membership fee. Sometimes, they're right -- there are products in there that seem like a good deal, but are no more (or, in fact, a little more) than regular store prices. But I just had to tell you Slashfoodies about my shallot find last weekend. Sometimes it's wonderful to buy in bulk.

Since I was out of shallots, I begrudgingly picked up a small bag of shallots at a big-box grocery store -- the bag only had 250 g, or 8.8 oz, which totaled approximately 5 shallots. As I put the bag in my cart, I wistfully remembered summer days where local shallots were cheap and plentiful, and then moved on. A few hours later, I found myself at Costco, staring at a three pound bag of shallots.

The cost difference? The smaller was $3, while the large bag was around double that. As you can see from the labels, they're both from the same company. It's a shallot dream come true.

Now I've just got to decide what to make with them....

Any traditional Thanksgiving meal must have mashed potatoes, but that doesn't mean you have to go with the plain butter variety, or even garlic. What about this recipe, courtesy of Bon Appetit and Epicurious? If you want something a little less rich, I suggest the Chive and Parsley Mashed Potatoes -- light and delicious.

Caramelized-Shallot Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

6 tbsp of butter, divided
2 cups sliced shallots
3/4 cup whole milk
2 pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes -- peeled and quartered

• Melt 2 tbsp of the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add shallots and cook until tender and brown, stirring often. (Approx. 20 minutes) Transfer the shallots to a bowl, add milk to skillet, and set aside.
• Meanwhile, bring the potatoes to a boil, then let simmer until tender. Drain them and then stir over medium heat until dry.
  
• Add remaining butter to potatoes while bringing milk to a simmer in the skillet. Scrap any browned bits and add the milk to the potatoes. Mash, stir in shallots, and season with salt and pepper.

My parents had Thanksgiving dinner with some old friends this year and after the meal was over, my mom called me to rave about the Brussels Sprouts that Lucy, the friends' daughter, had made. Lucy has two young sons and had made these sprouts in the hopes that her boys would eat them. She put a lot of effort into them, removing each leaf from every small sprout head in order to get a kid-friendly consistency. When she gave my mom the recipe, she stressed that one does not have to go to such labor-intensive lengths in order to make this dish.

The way we did it last night was to chop 2 pounds of sprouts into eighths (quarter them and then halve the quarters), which took some time but was worth it in terms of cooking speed. In a large skillet, I sauteed four thinly sliced leeks (they were fairly small leeks, total yield was about 1 1/2 cups) and two chopped shallots in a couple teaspoons of olive oil. Then the chopped sprouts went in, along with a sprig's worth of minced rosemary. When the started to get a little dry, I added about half a cup of chicken stock (there happened to be some around, otherwise I would have used water). Cover until soft. At the very end, add 1/4 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg and 1/2 a cup of cream or half and half. Lastly add salt and pepper to taste.

They were so good and while they felt a little decadent, they weren't overwhelmingly rich. I think these are going to end up on the table come Christmas dinner.