Stuff you should know about in the kitchen!

I have three kinds of onions in my kitchen.



For me, a self avowed onion hater, that is saying a lot. A mouthful even.
I have always hated onions. I actually like the flavor but hate the texture. Crunchy and acrid when raw, slimy when cooked? No thanks! All through growing up, I used to order onion rings only to peel off the crunchy outside and devour it, leaving a pile of cold clammy onions ignored on the side of my plate. Sometimes I would halfheartedly think about how to work onion flavor into things without actually eating it. It never occurred to me to just cook with the onion and then take it out, as this recipe for Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter suggests. As you may have guessed, it calls for just three ingredients: tomatoes, onion, & butter. I'm telling you, please just try this recipe once and you will be a convert. And I don't even really like tomatoes that much, so that has to tell you something. It must be all that butter...



Tomato Sauce with Onion & Butter
2 cups whole, peeled, canned plum tomatoes, chopped, with their juices (about one 28-oz. can)
5 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and cut in half
Salt, to taste

Combine the tomatoes, their juices, the butter, and the onion halves in a medium saucepan. Add a pinch or two of salt. Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, at a very slow but steady simmer, adjusting the heat as necessary, for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free from the tomato. Stir occasionally, mashing any large pieces of tomato with the back of a wooden spoon. Taste and salt as needed.
Discard the onion before tossing the sauce with pasta.
Yield: Enough sauce for about 1 pound of pasta, or 4 servings

Also I am really into this recipe for Chicken Milanese with Escarole Salad with Pickled Onions. As it turns out, I heart pickled onions.