Feast of Onions

Feast of Onions

Since I was the loser of Onion Competition of 2010, I had to create a delicious menu of red onions for Cody McCarthy, which took place this last week. Cody won 2nd place at the Utah State Fair with these onions. No, not the big ones, the tiny organic ones. 

So for a table full of friends, I made a variety of onion dishes - boiled, baked and roasted. To begin, we had this French Red Onion soup which was surprisingly, bowl-licking good. I think it was because I used his spice, star anise. Isn't it beautiful? The Gruyere topped toast was a beautiful finishing touch to the soup as well (and made for great leftovers the next night!)

 I also made a roasted red onion focaccia bread from my Artisan Bread in 5 Minute a Day cookbook. I still have a ways to go in my baking abilities so it was just okay. But what was delicious was the balsamic roasted chicken and vegetables. An hour in balsamic vinegar made those chicken tenders (and peppers, squash and onions)  divine. 

Even though we all smelled fairly ripe by the end of the evening, it was a success, I think.