Tag: onions

Surrendering onions

I’ve been away. I know. I have noticed. Thank you for your patience during the disruption to your service.

I’ve been terribly ill, you see. Sick, so sick. Morning sickness it is. Was. It’s over now – sort of. I still get the odd billowing wave of it, bobbing up around my solar plexus but I’m no longer a drooping, greyish figure haunting my house. Urgh. I hate – hate – people who say that horrid thing to pregnant women – “You’re not ill, you’re pregnant.” Really? Because it feels an awful lot like norovirus to me.

Anyway I feel better now. And I had my 12 week scan – just one spratling, thank god, in the right place – and so I can start moaning on about being pregnant again. The other thing that’s happened is that I’ve finished putting together that book I was talking about. In the end it really wasn’t very much work, it was just impossible to do anything feeling so sick. Ten minutes typing, 1 hour lying down, ten minutes typing, one hour lying down. SO SO SICK. I got some pills off my doctor, The Beast, in the end. I just couldn’t take it anymore. But they only took the edge off, it wasn’t like I was bouncing out of bed in the mornings.

I honestly am still reeling from how awful it was. It just wasn’t that bad with Kitty. And I wasn’t that tired either. But for the last six weeks I’ve been wiped out, asleep from 1-3pm every day. Wiped out like chalk on a blackboard. And then wake up feeling like shit. Poor old Kitty. Or rather lucky Kitty – she has eaten biscuits and watched telly solidly for six weeks. But thank god for telly. Thank GOD! What would we have done without it.

I am trying not to think too much about being plunged back into a babyhood. I am trying to look on the bright side. I must have learned something since Kitty was born. It surely won’t be as awful as it was. I don’t want to go mad again, I really don’t.

It has to be different this time – for one, Kitty was brought home to a house that didn’t have any children in it. It was a grown-up house, really quite spooky in a lot of ways – silent and strange and unfit for a baby. These days it has a chattering lunatic nearly-two-year-old in it, dropping crumbs and kicking balloons and watching telly and running from one end of the house to the other for no reason other than youthful high spirits. The changing mat now has its own room, rather than squatting on the kitchen table. The kitchen extension means that everyone can slob about in the kitchen, rather than me being at the stove, running out every ten seconds into the living room to make sure everyone’s okay.

And maybe I’m different. Broken in, broken down. Resigned. Institutionalised. Used to that special sort of monotony you get with small children, so intense particularly in babies. My expectations from life are different now. I am surrendered, like onions.

Surrendering onions is a slow but pleasing task. It is what you do if you want very soft, aromatic, almost creamy onions (for an onion gravy for example, or a tangle alongside some sausages) and the trick is to cook them for a good 1.5-2 hours on the lowest heat on your smallest available burner.

You slice them into rings, reasonably thinly and scatter them in a pan with some oil – and butter, if you like. Then sprinkle over a generous pinch of salt and put a lid on and leave them. Do not turn the heat up and do not poke them about too much. Take the lid off if at any point the onions start to even think about sizzling. Towards the end of the cooking time, the onions will almost in a matter of seconds collapse into themselves – they will surrender. I can’t help but think of motherhood like that. But not in a bad way.

Slow Simmered White Bean and Ham Soup

by Pam on December 15, 2013

This is one of our favorite soups in my home. My son and husband absolutely love it and so do my daughter and I. I have a quick and easy version of this soup here^[1] but when I have time, I make this slow simmered version. It just tastes so comforting, flavorful, and delicious. I soak the beans overnight (or do a quick soak) then simmer it all afternoon long with veggies and a ham hock. By the end of the day, the soup is creamy, smoky, thick, and hearty. I serve it with my House Salad^[2] and freshly baked biscuits^[3]. This soup is always a hit in my home and the leftovers are fantastic.

Overnight Soak: Rinse and sort the beans. Add 6-8 cups of cold water to 1 pound of dried beans. Let stand overnight or at least 8 hours. Drain and rinse the beans. Side Note: If you don’t have time to do an overnight soak, try the quick soak method: Rinse and sort the beans. Add 6-8 cups of water to 1 pound of dried beans. Bring water to a boil, boil for 2 minutes, remove from heat; cover and let stand for 1 hour. Drain and rinse the beans.

Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or pot over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, & celery. Cook for 4-5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 30-60 seconds before adding stock, drained white beans, ham hock, bay leaf, sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Cover and cook over low heat for at least 3 1/2-4 hours, stirring occasionally. Slowly break up the ham from the bone a little every time you stir the soup then remove any fat or bone from the ham hock along the way.

Remove the lid from the pan for 30 minutes prior to serving, making sure all fat and bone have been remove from the soup. Taste and re-season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Remove the bay leaf and ladle into bowls. Serve with salad and bread if desired. Enjoy.

Print^[4]

Save^[5]

Slow Simmered White Bean and Ham Soup

Ingredients:

1 lb of dried white beans
6-8 cups of water
1-2 tsp olive oil
1 small sweet yellow onion, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 ham hock, extra fat remove from the outside of the hock
6 cups of chicken stock
1 bay leaf
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste

Directions:

Overnight Soak: Rinse and sort the beans. Add 6-8 cups of cold water to 1 pound of dried beans. Let stand overnight or at least 8 hours. Drain and rinse the beans. Side Note: If you don’t have time to do an overnight soak, try the quick soak method: Rinse and sort the beans. Add 6-8 cups of water to 1 pound of dried beans. Bring water to a boil, boil for 2 minutes, remove from heat; cover and let stand for 1 hour. Drain and rinse the beans.

Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or pot over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, & celery. Cook for 4-5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 30-60 seconds before adding stock, drained white beans, ham hock, bay leaf, sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Cover and cook over low heat for at least 3 1/2-4 hours, stirring occasionally. Slowly break up the ham from the bone a little every time you stir the soup then remove any fat or bone from the ham hock along the way.

Remove the lid from the pan for 30 minutes prior to serving, making sure all fat and bone have been remove from the soup. Taste and re-season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Remove the bay leaf and ladle into bowls. Serve with salad and bread if desired. Enjoy.

Recipe and photos by For the Love of Cooking.net

A BIG THANK YOU!!

I received a gift package yesterday from The Pampered Chef ^[6]and couldn’t wait to see all of the new products they sent to me. While oohing and ahhing over my new gadgets, my daughter said, “They sure know how to pamper a chef”. I couldn’t have said it any better. Thank you Pampered Chef^[7]!

References

^{^} here (www.gordon-ramsay-recipe.com)
^{^} House Salad (www.gordon-ramsay-recipe.com)
^{^} biscuits (www.gordon-ramsay-recipe.com)
^{^} Print Recipe (www.gordon-ramsay-recipe.com)
^{^} Save to ZipList Recipe Box (www.gordon-ramsay-recipe.com)
^{^} The Pampered Chef (www.pamperedchef.com)
^{^} Pampered Chef (www.facebook.com)

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Lamb chilli casserole

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Ingredients

2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 bay leaves
1 stick celery, chopped
Grated zest 1 small orange
750ml red wine
1 kg shoulder of lamb, boned and cut into 2cm cubes
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, sliced
2 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tomatoes, skinned and chopped
2 tsp mixed herbs
500ml hot chicken or vegetable stock
2 tsp tomato purée
1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp cornflour
800g can potatoes, drained

That’s goodtoknow

You could use fresh potatoes instead of canned potatoes – simply add small new potatoes or cut old potatoes into quarters and add to the casserole about an hour before the end of the cooking time.

Method

Put all the marinade ingredients into a small saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium heat. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes until the liquid has reduced by about half. Remove the rosemary and bay leaves from the marinade and discard. Pour the marinade into a large bowl and set aside to cool.
When the marinade has cooled, add the lamb and cover the bowl with cling film. Place in the fridge for about 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 160⁰C/325⁰C/140⁰Fan/Gas Mark 3.
Heat the oil in a large ovenproof casserole dish or deep sauté pan, over a medium heat.
Remove the lamb from the marinade and add to the hot oil. Reserve the marinade to add to the casserole later.
Fry the lamb for about 5 minutes until evenly browned, then lift out and drain.
Add the onions, carrots and garlic and fry for about 3 minutes.
Add the lamb to the pan and then add the tomatoes, herbs, stock, tomato purée, chilli and reserved marinade. Stir well and season with the salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Bring to the boil then cover and place in the oven for about 3 hours. Check the casserole every now and again and add extra stock if necessary.
About 30 minutes before the end of the cooking time put the cornflour into a small bowl. Add a little cold water and mix to a paste. Take a few tablespoons of the hot gravy from the casserole and add to the paste, stirring well. Pour the mixture into the casserole and stir in very well. This will help to thicken the casserole.
Add the potatoes and return the casserole to the oven for a further 30 minutes.

By Cathy Seward

What do you think of this recipe? Leave us your comments, twist and handy tips.

More Lamb casserole recipes

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