What We’re Cooking This Week: Creamed Onions

My childhood Thanksgiving was right out of a Norman Rockwell painting. A big turkey carved at the table, mounds of buttery mashed potatoes, the classic bread stuffing, and about a gallon of gravy that my Aunt Margaret made in the roasting using an old wooden spoon. While I loved her gravy, I wouldn’t touch Aunt Margaret’s other contribution: creamed onions.

A couple of decades later, when my palate eventually matured, I remembered that bubbly casserole of whole pearl onions swimming in a creamy, roux-thickened sauce and wanted to bring it back for my young family’s Thanksgiving. Our kids, just like me, hated it. But that just meant more for me, and over the years the dish evolved and got even better as I added cheese and bourbon to the cream sauce.

These days the hardest part is finding the onions. Aunt Margaret used canned pearl onions, and I’ll admit they made things easy, especially on Thanksgiving when so many things were being cooked. She’d bang out the cream sauce, open a few cans of onions, and it all went in the oven after the turkey came out to rest. I liked to use them, too, but I haven’t seen the Blue Diamond brand cans in the grocery store since the last century. Fresh pearl onions are everywhere, but you’ll need to peel a few dozen. Your best bet is the frozen food aisle at large, well-stocked supermarkets.

But the frozen onions tend to get watery as they cook, so I dry them out by heating them in a dry pan at the lowest temperature possible on my stove. It can take 20 minutes to cook off or longer for all liquid, and it’s okay if they get lightly browned in the process.

Recipe

1 12 oz bag frozen pearl onions

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil*

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup milk

2 oz sharp cheddar cheese, grated

2 oz Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated

2 oz blue cheese, crumbled

kosher-style sea salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Pinch ground nutmeg or mace, optional

½ cup bread crumbs

*I like to make besciamella, the Italian version of the classic béchamel or white sauce made with butter; fat is fine for this.

Thaw the onions and place in a dry skillet over the lowest heat possible. Cook until any liquid has completely evaporated, about 20 minutes, giving the skillet a shake occasionally. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium, stir in the flour, and cook for a few minutes. Add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg, then slowly stir in the milk, let the mix come to a gentle boil, and cook for another minute or two. Reduce the heat and gradually mix in the cheese. Set aside.

In a small skillet, heat the remaining olive oil and add the breadcrumbs. Mix thoroughly and remove from the heat. Put the onions in an 8 inch skillet or similar sized baking dish, pour the cheese sauce over them, and spread the breadcrumbs on top. And while they might look cooked, the onions aren’t at the meltingly tender stage yet, so cover the skillet with foil and bake at 325F for at least 90 minutes.