You Know You Are a Localvore When

Onions, the Vegetable

I wish I could have Ronnie Suburban come to my house and take better pictures our our food.

When the supplies are dwindling (to be reported anon), what becomes the vegetable side dish? Well, onions of course.

"Mommy it looks as good as the book", my daughter said, commenting on what we had, not what's posted. That book is Jamie Oliver's Cook With Jamie*. He calls it "The best onion gratin", and he may be right (although until I adopted this whole localvore thing, I did not have much of a history of eating onion gratins). Oliver sez:

Make this gratin and it's bound to be the talk of the meal because its got ballsy flavor and sweetness.

It's an easy recipe, as easy as any recipe that uses "glugs" of olive oil. Essentially you "petal" the onion, pour over the glugs of oil, bake covered for 45 minutes, re-bake uncovered for a bit longer, then add creme fraiche and good grating cheeses; he recommends Gruyere and Parmesan, we've used a variety of things around the house including Maytag blue and Wisconsin fontina, the ultimate local version, would be Pleasant Ridge Reserve. After the cheese, bake again until golden.

*Bob's your uncle, Jamie ran me the wrong way in his Naked Chef glory. I was surprised to like and enjoy his Italy show on Travel Channel. Then, just when he got me, he's left me cold with his latest TVFoodnetwork outing. I do like the book.