Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s onions recipes

I wonder how many of you, when it comes to cooking your next meal, will start it by peeling an onion. A great many, I’d guess, for these are the journeymen of the vegetable world: the stalwarts, the old retainers. They are so ubiquitous, we hardly see them as “vegetables” in their own right. Yet they are rich in antioxidants and vitamins. And although they are close to invisible in many recipes, their absence would be sorely lamented.

There are very few cooking cultures that don’t use onions as a baseline ingredient. Their pungent note, savoury yet also a little bit sweet, is a kind of touchstone on which a thousand dishes can be built. Cheap, easy to buy locally and available pretty much all year round, these are vegetables for which we should be very grateful.

I wouldn’t want to dissuade you from using onions for their foundation flavouring in stocks, stews, sauces, ragùs, soups, risottos, pastas and all the other things to which they are so fundamental. But I hope I can encourage you to put the onion centre stage from time to time, too. The lovely gurnard recipe here is a good example: visible and very much tasteable. The kind of sweated-down, sweet tangle of onion I use in this recipe is also great served alongside liver or sausages – in fact, it can shine in almost any classic meat-and-two-veg combo.

Onions are also brilliant when roasted: their natural sugars caramelise deliciously, giving them an almost burnt-toffee savour that softens other veg, particularly greens and roots. Try slicing them into wedges, keeping them attached at the root end, tossing with oil, salt and pepper, then roasting at 190C/375F/gas mark 5 for about 45 minutes, stirring once or twice.

But it’s not just onions we should turn the spotlight on: their allium brethren are similarly deserving of attention. Leeks, spring onions and chives are never far from my chopping board: they are especially useful in late spring, when a lot of our other fresh produce is still a way off harvest. Each has its own flavour, but all share that punchy, oniony thrum that banishes blandness and tempers other ingredients so nicely.

As with onions, they are often given the supporting role in a dish, but can easily carry the day if allowed. Leeks baked in a covered dish – with a splash of water, plenty of butter, and salt and pepper – are delicious just as they come; or give them a trickle of cream and a crunchy, cheesy breadcrumb topping, then flash under the grill, to make them especially tempting, in the way of all gratins.

Spring onions are one of my favourite veg for griddling or barbecuing, delicious with a rich sauce such as Spanish romesco (roasted red peppers, bread, garlic and paprika) or the simple yoghurty dressing I suggest here.

The only allium I’m not so excited about right now is garlic. Yes, I love the stuff, and there is always some in my kitchen. But this is the time of year when all a garlic clove really wants to do is grow, which is why you will find those incipient little green shoots at the heart of many cloves, even if you’ve only just bought them. If the green bit is tiny, it’s easy enough to nick it out, and the clove will still be perfectly OK, but any real growth means the garlic will be well below par in terms of flavour. Late summer through to winter is the prime time to enjoy garlic, particularly if it’s British-grown, because it will have been relatively recently harvested. And it’s better to store it in a cool larder than a warm kitchen.

Assuming you have some good, firm, juicy examples to start with, alliums are pretty forgiving to the cook: the one thing you must guard against is burning. These vegetables can blacken quickly because of their sugar content. Sometimes, though, carefully controlled burning is what you want: as with the roasting I suggest above, or the kind of browned onion that goes so well with a barbecued burger. But as soon as the caramelisation goes too far – from golden brown to almost black – the results are bitter. The key is relatively low temperatures, which allow the vegetable to soften and cook gently. Added liquid helps, too. Simply covering a pan of sweating onions or leeks, trapping their steam, can be enough to keep them tender and golden rather than catching and burning on the base of the pan.

Generally, I’d say the bigger and beefier the allium, the more cooking it can take. Chives are at their best raw, and spring onions need only minutes at most. Leeks are delicious after 10-15 minutes of gentle sweating in butter – too long on the stove and they can go slimy. Onions, on the other hand, the patriarchs of the allium world, can take at least an hour of slow cooking in a covered pan – and longer if they are part of a soup or stew. Keep the heat gentle and they will become more sweet, complex and delicious all the while.

Gurnard with melted onions and black olives

This is also good with mackerel, bass, bream or red mullet. Serves two.

3 tbsp olive oil
2-3 large onions, peeled and finely sliced
3-4 bay leaves
1 sprig fresh thyme
75g black olives, stoned and roughly chopped
About 50ml white wine
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Fillets from 2 gurnard

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onions, bay and thyme, and stir to break up the onion rings. Once they are sizzling, turn down the heat to very low. Cook gently, stirring from time to time, for 20-25 minutes, until very soft and golden. Be careful not to let the onions burn. Add the olives and a splash of white wine. Cook for a few minutes, until the wine has evaporated, then season.

Push the onions to the edges of the pan, to make room for the fish, and lay the fillets flesh side down in the pan. Turn after a few minutes and cook the skin side, spreading the onions over the fish to help the transfer of heat – they should be done in about 10 minutes. Serve hot straight from the pan, or at room temperature, with bread.

Chive talking: Show chives at their best in this white bean salad with sour cream. Photograph: Colin Campbell for the Guardian

White bean salad with sour cream and chives

Fresh-cut chives are packed with punchy, allium flavour and a simple, creamy dish such as this shows them off well. It’s lovely alongside good bread and maybe an omelette or some cold meat. Serves two.

1 tin white beans (cannellini or haricot, for example), drained, rinsed and drained again

For the dressing
3 tbsp sour cream
½ tsp English mustard
1 large bunch chives, finely snipped – you need about 4 tbsp in total
1 tbsp salted baby capers, rinsed and drained
Pinch of sugar
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

For the dressing, combine the sour cream, mustard, chives and capers with a pinch of sugar and some salt and pepper. Mix together well.

Stir in the beans. Taste again and season if necessary.

Leek and cheese toasties

One of my favourite quick suppers. Serves two.

15g butter
2 leeks, trimmed (white and pale green part only), washed and sliced
Leaves from a couple of sprigs of thyme, roughly chopped
3 tbsp double cream or crème fraîche
50g mature cheddar or other well-flavoured hard cheese, grated
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
2 thick slices good, robust bread

Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat and add the leeks. As soon as they are sizzling, turn down the heat and sweat gently, stirring, for 10 minutes. Stir in the thyme and cream (or crème fraîche), and cook for a minute or two, until the cream is bubbling. Take off the heat and stir in two-thirds of the cheese. Season to taste. Lightly toast the bread, spread on a thick layer of the leek mixture and top with the remaining cheese. Grill until bubbling and golden. Serve straight away.

Griddled spring onions

You don’t have to make the simple yoghurt sauce I suggest here – the onions will still be delicious dressed with just a little more oil, a squeeze of lemon juice, and salt and pepper. Serves two as a starter.

1 clove garlic, halved
3 tbsp plain, full-fat yoghurt
3 tbsp olive oil
Lemon juice
About 20 spring onions
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat the grill to high, or prepare a barbecue. To make the dressing, first rub the cut garlic clove around the inside of a small bowl. Add the yoghurt, two-thirds of the oil, salt and pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice, and whisk.

Trim off the rooty ends of the onions and remove the outer layer of skin. Rinse well and pat dry. Put in a bowl with the remaining oil, season and toss to coat. Lay the onions on a grill pan or directly on the barbecue, and grill for four to five minutes, turning once, until soft and browned. Transfer to a warm plate, trickle over some of the dressing – or just some lemon juice, oil and salt and pepper – and serve.

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