snapshot: braised spring red onions

one of the luxuries

of buying from a farmer's market

is that everything is so

fantastically fresh (hopefully, anyway)

that when used, each ingredient

can deliciously stand on its own.

that was my thinking with the

spring red onions (and spring garlic)

we found perched in crates.

we chose the ones we wanted -

the stalks on both were over

two feet long, but the farmers cut them

down to practical

carrying and storing size.

after considering everything under the sun

fancy to make with the finds,

i decided to simply braise them

and they were a treat.

to do: halve small or quarter large

spring red onions (3 to 6 depending on how

many you're feeding)*, keeping a couple

inches of the stalk or stem attached.

heat saute pan or skillet

large enough to hold the onions,

over medium-high heat.

coat with olive oil or cooking spray.

when hot, add onions, cut side down.

season with kosher salt

and cracked black pepper.

let cook 2 minutes, or until golden brown.

using tongs, carefully flip onions

and cook 2 minutes more, or until

golden brown on both sides.

pour in enough white wine to cover

vegetables halfway.

bring to a boil;

reduce heat to a simmer and cover.

cook 6 to 10 minutes, or until knife

slides easily into and out of onions

and the wine is mostly reduced.

while wine is still bubbling,

use tongs to transfer cooked onions

to serving plate.

carefully pour braising liquid onto

plate.

*yes, i used a combination of the

onions and garlic, but we learned

that garlic is cooler in theory. they

seemed to get tougher with heat and the one

that each of us ate, made us very aware

of the whole cloves that are hiding

in the bulb. or maybe they're not

hiding. either way, we weren't in love.