All hail the allium
I don’t think many days go by (or in fact any day?) without me reaching for one of the most used food families there is worldwide; alliums.
You might be asking exactly what is an allium? Alliums are a group of plants/vegetables that include onions, spring onions, shallots, leeks, chives and garlic (among some others). These vegetables are not only hugely versatile, but they also form the base and backbone of many dishes providing both flavour and texture.
The onion family is widely used all over the world and is the foundation of every good curry, tagine, stir fry, stew and pies, but to name a few dishes.
Onions have been used for thousands and thousands of years and, although they are now thought of as vegetables with health benefits, in Ancient Egypt onions were in fact seen as a symbol of eternal life. Egyptian tombs that have been opened show painted pictures featuring onions. In the tomb of the boy king Tutankhamen, the pictures showed tables full of onions and it is said that the mummified body of Pharaoh Ramses IV had the eyes replaced with onions.
One of the great things about onions and garlic is that they don’t spoil quickly and happily sit in a dark cupboard for quite some time, especially perfect if you grow you own and harvest them. They do also look very pretty in the garden as they flower, chive flowers are especially beautiful and they can be eaten.
The allium is also said to have many health benefits including being antibacterial, anti inflammatory, supporting your immune system and reducing cholesterol. In fact it is said that if you leave half an onion out in your house it will pull in all the toxins and turn black. The only bad thing about this is that onions have a rather pungent smell so if the toxins don’t get you, the smell may after a while.
Onions are linked to crying when they are cut and there are many ‘hacks’ circulating on how to get around this or stop it, things such as holding a silver spoon in your mouth, a slice of bread in your mouth, wearing goggles, chewing gum etc etc. To me none of them are foolproof, some onions are strong, some mild. Why do we cry? This is actually all down to the sulphur found within onions and, as you cut, you cut through the cells triggering the release of liquid, which sprays up into the air. The best thing I have found is to have very sharp knives, the cleaner the cut, the less the liquid sprays and, chilling the onion before cutting. Apparently the sulphur levels are reduced when you chill.
What I love the most is how versatile they are, charring makes them smokey and sweet, slow roasting makes them caramelised and super soft, lightly pickled in salads they add a great bite that is especially good against cheese.
Some of our favourite recipes are below.
Onions: Zwiebelkuchen, caramelised chutney, burgers with onion rings such as le smokey or sausages with onions, such as bratwurst.
Garlic: without question, all of our noodle dishes and most of our pasta dishes have some form of allium but the garlic dish that most stands out to me is pasta arrabiata which has 24 cloves of garlic.
Leeks: leek and bacon pasta, gratin of chicken and leek and mussel and leek potjie. Don’t forget, leeks need to be cleaned thoroughly because of the way they grow and the easiest way to do this is to cut the top off, cut the leek in half and then clean away the dirt and grit which will be towards the green end. If you are keeping the leeks whole, cut off the green part and just check the top to make sure it is clean.
Spring onions: these little beauties are perfect scattered over the top of stir fries but my favourite is sticky salmon. Also check out our bacon, cheese and spring onion beer bread.
Chives: my favourite herb, great with cream cheese, sour cream and scattered over the top of jacket potatoes but equally as good in a quiche.
Shallots: if an onion and garlic had a baby a shallot would be the outcome. They have a milder onion flavour with a very soft garlic taste. Shallots are fantastic crispy and you can buy these, add to the top of stir fries or rice dishes. I love shallots in salads and our Nicoise potato salad is a great example.
However you chose to use your alliums, enjoy.
Kelly x