At lunchtime today I decided to use my giant white Giarratana onions to attempt cipolle ripiene [baked, stuffed onions], a popular dish all over the south of Italy. I am pleased because it turned out rather better than I expected, considering that I cobbled together ideas from Carluccio, Lorenza de' Medici and Elizabeth David and guessed the quantities: Both Lorenza and ED tell you to boil the onions [peeled, says Lorenza, unpeeled says ED] for 15 minutes first, but Carluccio doesn't, as he is using red onions which don't need to be peeled. I should think the purpose of boiling them is to tenderise them, though, not to make the peeling easier. Given the size of these particular onions, I decided that it would be best to do the boiling, then, once they were cool enough to handle, I peeled them [not that there was much skin on these] cut the tops off and hollowed out the centre as best I could. [OK, I broke a bit off the edge of the one on the left but I'm not Nigella or Saint Delia!] Then the fun bit: following the suggestions of all 3 cooks, I made a stuffing mixture from grated parmigiano and pecorino, breadcrumbs [the fine pane grattugiato that we can buy in packets here; in Britain you could use wholemeal breadcrumbs but do make them yourself from day-old bread - don't use those dry breadcrumbs that you can buy there] capers [always use salted ones if you can] chopped black olives, a little chopped, cooked ham, chopped basil and parsley and of course seasoning. I used eggs and olive oil to bind the mixture together. ED adds anchovies , in which case you would leave the salt out, but as I am allergic to any sort of fish that was not a possibility for me. Then I drizzled olive oil over and baked them in an oiled roasting dish at 200 C for 30 minutes. You can, of course, use smaller onions and I should think red ones would look very pretty.
In the top picture they are ready to go in the oven, in the second one they have just come out, in the third I have just cut one and I wanted to show you the texture of the pane grattugiato. You wouldn't need to get your breadcrumbs anywhere near as fine as this so don't worry!
13 comments:
any cooking talk is WAY over my head. That gene totally skipped me and went straight to Q, but I can see it looks and sounds yummy. Well done.
Well, I'm not going to do my usual offer of swapping meals.
I was hungry before I clicked in, now I'm hungrier.
But probably won't get a chance to eat for a bit yet.
And so you should be - how did they taste? I am off to eat something now....bad Welshcakes..
Hey I was wondering what on earth they were! White things with a yummy looking topping ... ONIONS!! Haha! .. My cooking ambitions are on hold I'm afraid ... Welshcakes didn't turn out very nice at all ... tried to cook them on hotplate not using oven ... disaster ... I'm limiting self to fresh stuffed pasta - mushroom tortelloni now I'm afraid ..
Hey what do you think about those 15 mafiosis caught in your neck of the woods ... they were meant to be investing Sicilian bloody money in Brooklyn properties ...
Allergic to fish in Sicily? Oh my!
I'll have to try that recipe, looks yummy.
Now is this a main course or a contorno? I think I need some more protein but I do think they look delicious. Perhaps with some vitello tonnato?
I'm very good at cobbling too. I hardly ever follow a recipe without monkeying about with it. But I hardly ever cook without one either.
Regards
jmb
Well done. Looks very tasty.
Hi WCL - those onions look good! I was reading about the great drought in Sicily in 1893: by the and of April it hadn't rained for 6 months and people were despairing. Masses, prayers, supplications to St. Francis of Paolo had all failed. In the end they banished the saints: they dumped St Joseph in a garden in Palermo so that he could feel the heat, they tore off the golden wings of archangel Michael in Caltanisetta and replaced them with board and in Licata, St. Angelo was stripped, put in chains and threatened with hanging. "Rain or the rope!" they cried. The rain came.
Thanks, Lady M. Sorry I made you hungrier, Crushed! They tasted just fine, janejill. I wasn't sure the capers would work as there was so much cheese but they did! Hi, Gleds. Sorry the welshcakes didn't turn out so well - they are very temperamental, you know. Saw a pic of one of the Capi of the 14 being taken in by police today: in the UK, it's the criminal who hides his / her face but in this case the police were hiding theirs. Hi, pink. Yes, afraid so. But I haven't been offered fish all that often here, even before my friends knew I was allergic. The idea that meat is hardly ever eaten on Sicily is a myth. Hi, jmb. Well, I've been seved this dish after the pasta and before the main so I guess it's nearer to a contorno. You wouldn't have one each - you'd slice these big onions up. Surprisingly, they taste good cold, too! I, too, never follow a recipe word for word. I like to muck around and make it "mine". Thanks, Steve. Hi, WW> Thank you for the stories. I knew about the drought but not all of these. Auguri.
yummy, I think I will try making it (my mother will be surprised because I don't cook often:))
Hello, Kizzie. Been meaning to come and visit your blog. I'll do so now! Thank you for visiting mine.
They look delicious, Welsh. I love baked/roasted onion. It's a long time since I've stuffed them, though...must give it a go...thanks for the nudge! :)
Pleased you like the look of them, Lee.
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