Onions

Fresh onions

Freshly harvested onions are a really versatile ingredient in the kitchen. The flavour is a little more delicate than a stored onion and will be delicious thinly sliced in salads. The green tops can be used the same way that you would a spring onion - finely sliced you can:

• toss them raw through a salad or coleslaw
• grill them in a hot pan with oil and salt and finish with a drop of cider vinegar (or a squeeze of lemon) as a perfect garnish for fish

Stored/Dried Onions

As onions take a long time to grow and can’t be harvested all year round in this country, most onions are harvested, dried and stored for use throughout the year.

• When making a stock, leave the skins on your onions for a darker stock (perfect for beef stews) or remove them for a lighter stock (great if you’re making a light chicken soup)

Roasted onions

Try cutting a few onions in half lengthways with the skin left on and place them cut side down into a well oiled medium hot frying pan. Be brave and let the onion colour until it’s quite dark (almost burnt) before placing a layer of tin foil loosely over the pan and popping it into an oven at 190C for 20 mins or until the onions have softened. Leave to cool for a few mins before removing the skin. You can either serve the half onions as a delicious side to a roast or peel each half into petals and use to mix through other veg sides like kale or peas.