Secrets of the Radish

Radishes never seemed mysterious.  When I was growing up, they sometimes appeared as a side dish along with some slices of cucumber.  It was like an instant salad, both spicy and colorful.  Once in a while my mother put sliced raw radishes and small chunks of cucumber into a bowl of sour cream.  That would be our lunch when she’d run out of everything else.

When I began cooking, I ignored radishes unless a recipe called for them, which was almost never. 

Mom Money-Saving Tip 82

Do you need a quick and cheap vegetable side dish?  Try making Broiled Onions.  

Broiled Onions - serves 4 

1 large purple onion 

1 large white or yellow onion

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

Slice the onions into very thin rings.  Put the slices in a large bowl and separate the rings with your fingers.  Add the olive oil, lemon juice, cumin and salt and stir well. 

Preheat the broiler to High.  Transfer the onion mixture to a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or foil for easy clean-up.  Spread the onions into a thin layer and broil for 5 minutes.  Stir the mixture and broil for another 5 minutes.  Transfer the broiled onions to a bowl and serve.  

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Cipolline Onions: What Are and How Do I Cook Them?

Somehow I managed to miss the existence of Cipolline onions until yesterday, when I stumbled across a bag of them at my local grocery store.  These onions are tiny, although not quite as tiny as pearl onions. 

They’re cute the way baby carrots or other miniature vegetables are cute.  They taste stronger than scallions and need about 45 minutes of roasting in the oven to be soft enough to enjoy.

They’re pronounced chih-poh-LEE-nee.  Cipolla is the Italian name for onion, and Cipolline means small onion.