Category: USA

These onions are just as tasty at room temperature as they are hot.

Ingredients

• 1 to 1 1/2 pounds boiling or pearl onions
• Salt
• 3 Tbsp olive oil or butter
• 3 Tbsp cider, malt or white wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp honey

Method

1 The hardest part about this recipe is peeling the onions. If you are using pearl or small cipollini onions, blanch them in boiling water for a minute or so and then plunge them into ice water to stop the cooking. Slice off the root and stem ends, and the papery skin should slip right off. If you are using the larger boiling onions, as we did here, just slice the stem end off the onion and peel as you would a normal onion.

2 Bring a pot of salty water to a boil, and boil your onions for 4-10 minutes, or until they are tender. Smaller onions will need less time. You want them al dente, not soft, because they will cook a bit more in the frying pan. Drain the onions well and set aside.

3 Get a frying pan hot over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Let the olive oil get hot for a minute or two and add the onions. They will spit a little because they are full of moisture. Let them sizzle until you get some browning on a couple sides of the onion, about 4-5 minutes.

4 Meanwhile, mix the honey and vinegar vigorously until the honey dissolves. Add it to the frying pan. It will spit and sizzle violently. Turn the onions to coat with the mixture and turn the heat down to medium. Sprinkle salt over everything.

5 Let the vinegar-honey mixture boil down to a thick syrup. Turn the onions often to coat evenly. Serve hot or at room temperature, with a little sprinkling of a fancy salt like fleur de sel, if you have some.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

2 bunches of small carrots with tops
Ice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 lemon

Directions

1. Peel the carrots and cut off the tops, leaving just about 1/2 inch on.
2. Place them in a steamer basket and steam over medium-high heat for about 10 to 15 minutes until they are tender enough to be pierced with a fork, but not overcooked or mushy.
3. While the carrots are steaming, fill a large bowl with ice water.
4. When they’re cooked, dunk the carrots in for just a few seconds to stop the cooking process.
5. Place them on a serving plate, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil. Squeeze the juice from the lemon over the carrots.