Culinaria: the extensive onion family

I often imagine the onion family akin to one of those large Irish families where the parents can no longer remember all the names of their many children. As well as including the leek, scallions, chives and garlic, the onion family (genus Allium) also includes hundreds of wild species.

There is something peculiarly beautiful about the shape of an onion, its concentric layers gracefully covering an inner core. Ancient Egyptians worshipped its spherical shape, thinking it symbolised eternal life. It seems those who built the pyramids ate them. Also, they were one of the first vegetables planted by early colonists to North America.

In the early autumn, before its outer skin dries out and becomes brown and brittle, you can find really gorgeous fresh onions in bunches at any farmer’s market. The sweetness of the onion at this stage is incomparable and it really does bring a proper meaning to the word “fresh”.

Because of the saccharine quality of these fresh onions, I find them quite palatable raw when sliced thinly. A little oil, vinegar and sea salt is all they need before they can be matched with beautiful Irish cucumbers and tomatoes.

A proper salad should have enough salt, sweet and bitter features to entertain the whole palate. It should never just be something on the side. A sprinkle of some dried seaweed powder on the onions will bring a nice dash of umami.

Roasting onions is another pleasing way to prepare them. Halve the onions and pan fry in some oil until black. Put them into the oven for 15 minutes. Allow to cool, remove the charred outer layer and rinse any remaining black flakes from the edges. These roast onion cups are a nice addition to steak or lamb: their tangy bitter-sweet quality complementing the charred crust of the meat.

To make a quick roast-onion purée, blend warm onion cups with enough hot chicken stock to achieve a smooth velvety consistency.