Smitten Kitchen's Roasted Stuffed Onions

Roasted Stuffed Onions
Gourmet Magazine, November 2002

A whole bunch of notes: If you only want to make the quantity for stuffed onions, even half of this is slightly more than enough, leaving you with the option of using an extra onion or two, or just baking it in a pan.

If you wish to make this vegetarian, simply omit the bacon, and cook the filling in olive oil instead. Vegetable stock can be swapped for turkey.

If you’re freaked out about hollowing out an onion, believe me, I was too. I dreaded and dreaded it, and then–voila! I used a melon baller. Working carefully, you’ll be surprised how easily it works.

If you’re stressing because you have a lot of guests coming over, you can definitely do the onion-hollowing step a day or two in advance. The stuffing can be made in advanced as well, then brought to room temperature before filling and baking.

10 medium red and yellow onions (4 lb)
1 lb sliced bacon, cut crosswise into 1-inch-wide pieces
3 celery ribs, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
15 oz baby spinach, trimmed and coarsely chopped (14 cups)
1 (9-inch) round loaf country-style bread (1 1/4 lb), cut into 1/2-inch cubes (10 cups), lightly toasted
2 cups salted roasted cashews (10 oz), coarsely chopped
1 stick (1/2cup) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/4 cups turkey giblet stock

Make onion shells: Cut a 1/2-inch-thick slice from tops of onions, discarding tops, and trim just enough from bottoms for onions to stand upright. Scoop out all but outer 2 or 3 layers from each using a small ice cream scoop or spoon (don’t worry if you make a hole in the bottom), reserving scooped-out onion and onion shells separately.

Make stuffing: Coarsely chop enough scooped-out onion to measure 3 cups.

Cook bacon in 2 batches in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until crisp, about 10 minutes, then transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain, reserving about 1/3 cup fat in skillet.

Add chopped onion, celery, salt, and pepper to skillet and sauté over moderately high heat, stirring, until vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté, stirring, 1 minute. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and stir in spinach, bread, cashews, butter, 1 cup stock, and bacon, then cool completely.

Roast onions: Preheat oven to 425°F. Arrange onion shells, open sides up, in a 13- by 9- by 2-inch baking pan, then add 1/2cup water and cover pan tightly with foil. Roast onions in middle of oven until tender but not falling apart, 25 to 30 minutes.

Stuff and bake onions: Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Transfer shells to a work surface and pour off water in pan. Fill shells with stuffing, mounding it, and return to pan. Reserve 5 to 7 cups stuffing for turkey cavity, then put remaining stuffing in a buttered shallow 3 1/2-quart baking dish and drizzle with remaining 1/4 cup stock.

Bake stuffed onions and stuffing in dish in middle of oven, uncovered, until heated through, about 25 minutes.

Marin's Thanksgiving Meal

Honey and Mustard Glazed Green Beans (or Brussels Sprouts)
-Combine honey (1/4 cup), mustard (1/4 cup) and olive oil (1 tbsp) in a small bowl and stir together.
-Trim green beans
-Place vegetables in skillet with just enough water to keep moist. Steam until bright green and just tender-crisp, not a moment longer!
-Pour in the honey-mustard mixture and pinch of salt. Turn up the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring until the vegetables are nicely glazed, about 2 to 3 minutes. Make sure they stay bright green! Remove from heat, sprinkle with the optional nuts, and serve at once, straight from the skillet.

Massaged Kale Salad with Cranberries and Cashews (or Walnuts)
-Strip the kale leaves off the stems. Cut into ribbons and place in a large bowl. With a little olive oil rubbed in your palms, massage the kale for a minute or so, until it becomes bright green and softens a bit.
-Stir the remaining ingredients (2/3 cup dried cranberries, 1/2 cup toasted cashews/walnuts/pumpkin seeds, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1-2 tbsp lemon juice) and serve at room temperature.

Pear, Apple and Cranberry Crumble
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Place the fresh cranberries (1 cup) in a food processor. Pulse on and off until coarsely chopped.
-Combine the cranberries, pears (3 medium Bosc, cored and thinly sliced), apples (2 large crisp, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced) with maple syrup (1/2 cup), cinnamon (1 tsp), nutmeg (or allspice) (1/4 tsp), and vanilla extract (1 tsp). Stir together until evenly coated. Pour into a lightly oiled 9x13 inch baking pan.
-Combine the first 5 topping ingredients in a small bowl and stir together. Drizzle in the oil and stir until the dry ingredients (1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour, 1/4 cup wheat germ, 1/2 sliced almonds, 1/4 cup natural granulated sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon) are evenly moistened. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the fruit mixture.
-Bake for 40 minutes or until the fruits are soft and the topping is golden. Serve warm, topping each serving with a dollop of frozen dessert such as coconut ice cream, if desired.

Chocolate Pecan Pie
-Preheat oven 375 degrees.
-Beat 3 eggs, add in melted butter, dark corn syrup (1/2 cup), sugar (1 cup). Wisk together. Add chocolate (4 ounces). *Add 2 tbsp of bourbon
-Pour pecan halves (2 cups) into refrigerated pie shell
-Pour pie filling into the pie shell atop the pecans.
-Bake at 375 for 10 minutes. Turn oven down to 350 and bake for another 25 minutes.

Carey's Polenta Pizza

boil uncooked polenta in with water
add a teaspoon of olive oil
add salt and pepper
add crushed garlic and cream cheese for the last few minutes
When cooked, spread the polenta onto a cast iron pan and cook in the oven till toasted brown

In a frying pan, sautee onions and mushrooms

When polenta crust has baked for 15 min
add tomato sauce
add sauteed onions and mushroom
add cheese
add green onions
add prosciutto

bake till ready.

Yum!

Aaron's Kale Chips

Rip pieces of Kale (wash well as mud tends to stick on them)
Spread out onto cookie sheet
Pour a nickle sized amount of olive oil into your hands and scrunch it into the Kale
Add salt and pepper to taste.

alternative toppings:
Lemon Juice
Nutritional yeast for a nutty, cheesy flavor
Chili powder, cumin and garlic
Dressing
Cider Vinegar

Bake until crisp but check in on them to make sure they aren't, 10-13 minutes

Yum!

Grandma's Candied Yams

Peel skin off yams
boil them in water till you can stick a knife in it easily
drain water and mush up the yams
add butter
add maple syrup
add brown sugar
add vanilla
add cinnamon
add orange juice
add orange zest
add chai concentrate
add salt

Stir
Bake
add marshmellows for the last 10 min
Remove when marshmellows are toasted

Cool

Eat. Yum!

Lisa's Black Bean Frittata

Sautee in frying pan:
yellow onions
Mushrooms

Mix in a bowl:
eggs
black beans
green onions
salt
pepper
Parmesan cheese
add sauteed onions and mushrooms

pour into iron pan and stove top on low till the edges firm up
Add Cilantro on top
then put in oven at low temperature so that it cooks throughout
remove when middle / top is firm

Cut like a pie
Serve with tortilla chips

Yum!!