Onions

I really have to post a photo of Karen's onion crop. I have below, part of the crop. They are so beautiful and plentiful. They are actually a very sweet red onion. I have noticed in my travels that American commercial produce tends to be BIG. Apparently we like our green peppers big. Big, better, more; that's some mantra here. Sometimes it works, but I know the economy is suffering. Clearly the smaller green peppers from non-commercial sources are available, possibly from farmers markets, and surely from our garden. Their flavor is more intense and concentrated. There is more thickness to the flesh of the commercial green pepper but it doesn't result in a satisfactory flavor.

When living in Pennsylvania in the 70's I had a friend named Richard who loved to hike and one of his favorite foods was green peppers. He might have other foods, but the fact that it was a water food and fresh was enough incentive for Richard. He'd eat them whole. I think that's where I got my habit.

The onions. I carmelized a whole onion this week. Thinly sliced on my Benriner and slowly cooked to golden transformed and concentrated the sweetness. Not a dot of added sugar was necessary. I made it as a side for some chicken livers bought for dinner from the local chain market. Don't ever read the label of chicken livers. Rarely do you see any ingredient providing more than 100% of anything; if I recall they had 136% of my daily required minimum intake of cholesterol. Yikes. Undaunted I made some and had a richly rewarding dinner.

I don't know how long our onions will last but they will surely accompany many dishes this winter.