Onions Are Great

Onions are great. When you hear people turn their nose up at onions, I feel a combination of sadness and happiness, knowing they eat them unknowingly - pretty much every day - as they are 'sneaked' into most savoury shop-bought foods (think crisps, ready meals, combined spices). It's true though, they simply don't get enough respect. This pungent root that can force the hardest of blokey blokes to blubber like a baby (slight exaggeration) as they attempt to slice and dice one for that evening's tea (and let's face the fact, it's normally the first ingredient on the list). 

'Finely dice and gently sauté one medium-sized onion in two tablespoons of olive oil', the recipe says. But that's just the beginning. They set the scene for any savoury meal, the hidden assassin of tasteful delight that lurks in the background, laughing at the onion haters and offering a depth of flavour that just wouldn't be there without it. And there are so many varieties! Over 600 they reckon. But how many do I know? Spring onions, red onions, pickled onions (those tiny, sweet ones), and I've seen a yellow or a purple one in one of these artisan food fayres where everything costs more than a fiver. Yes, even an onion. 

But give me the humble brown skinned onion any time: small ones, medium ones, massive ones. Slice them into rings, dip them in batter and fry them. Blitz them into a puree with garlic, ginger and chilli and there's the basis of a superb curry. Raw red onions in any salad or lightly pickled and eaten in sandwiches or on a taco. Sliced and put into a cheese and onion pie or heck, a bucket of them cooked slowly with thyme and butter, whacked into a pie crust, topped with Parmesan and slowly cooked for the most amazing onion pie ever. Patiently cooked down until golden and sweet, it makes the most unreal soup in the world, French onion soup. Big chunks of raw white onion mixed in with tuna and mayonnaise. Oh, I could go on. But I'll stop here as I've set my daily writing buzzer for 12-minutes today and it's about to pop. 

So, all hail the humble onion, a beautiful, versatile vegetable that is often sneered at and reviled for its stink and tear inducing properties. But I'm not having that. Respect to the layered one. Hold one aloft and make a song up about it, wandering around your local town proudly singing your onion-based tune with pride and abandon. Yes, you may get some funny looks, people avoiding you or at worst, arrest. But it will raise crucial awareness of this wonderful vegetable and soon have everybody agreeing with you; onions are great.