Found and made this recipe from Epicurious tonight. The vegetable combination (pearl onions, peas and artichokes) really appealed to me. It paired nicely with some smashed red bliss potatoes and chicken. However, I think it needs something in the way of spices. I did add a bay leaf to the sauce, and kosher salt and ground pepper, but something was missing.
I had looked around the web for similar recipes to get some ideas, but found nothing. I thought about spicing up the onions a bit more, maybe tossing the artichokes onto the baking pan with the onions to brown them a bit also. Maybe some balsamic vingear or lemon? But I couldn’t decide what to do, and truth be told, on a week night I wasn’t feeling adventurous enough to risk spoiling it and having to start all over. So I pretty much made it as written (though I did cut back a bit on the butter, and used both pearl and chopotle cipollini onions.) It really was good, but next time I’d like to take it up a notch, as our friend Emiril would say.
Suggestions, anyone?
Ragout of Pearl Onions, Peas and Artichokes
1 1/2 pounds pearl onions
1 tablespoon olive oil
5 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt broth
1 10-ounce package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed, drained, halved lengthwise (I used canned)
2 cups fresh peas or frozen, thawed
Cook onions in large pot of boiling water 2 minutes. Drain and cool. Peel onions.
Preheat oven to 400°F. Transfer onions to rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Bake until tender and golden, shaking pan occasionally to turn onions and brown, about 35 minutes.
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add stock; boil until liquid is reduced to 1 cup, about 10 minutes.
Add onions, artichokes and peas; simmer until onions and peas are crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Add 4 tablespoons butter; stir until melted. Season with salt and pepper.
Makes 6 servings.
Category: Food
The ragout looks delicious. I’d definately try the Balsamic vinegar. I find that a couple of capfuls adds a definate something. You could also try Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce. I use one or the other of them in roast beef gravy, and always Lea & Perrins in beef stews & casseroles.
BTW, why kosher salt? Kashrut doesn’t appear to figure greatly in your recipes.
Chairwoman:
My use of Kosher salt has no religious meaning. I use Kosher salt because I love it. (It’s called Kosher not because it is Kosher, but beacuse it is used to Kosher meats) It has nice large grains, much larger than table salt, that make it great to use in spice rubs, on meats, and pretty much anything. It has better flavor, I think, than table salt. The only place I don’t use it is in baking, where exact quantities are important. (You have to adjust if subsiuting kosher salt for table salt). I recommend you try it.
See this site for more info, it’s well written and infromative:
http://ask.yahoo.com/20030310.html
I’d add some fresh herbs like sage or rosemary.
Thanks for the advice tbtam, I don’t know if it’s available in the UK. I do use coarse grain sea salt for a similar reason, also it has a slightly different flavour. More like the taste you get when you lick your lips at the coast. I know that’s available in Manhattan, because I’ve seen it. For me, one of the joys of a trip to New York, is a wander round a supermarket with my daughter so that we can ooh and aah at all the differences.
Quick question–at the risk of appearing culinarily ignorant, what are chipotle onions? I thought chipotles were peppers.
Anonymous:
Not only are you not culinarily ignorant, you are right. I meant to write cipollini, not chipotle.
Thanks for picking up the error.