Tis the season to fire up the grill.
What to cook? Onions. Grilled onions have a sweet and smoky flavor. They make a fantastic topping for green salads, burgers, or omelets. Leftovers taste great (unheated), so I always make enough to serve two or three days in a row.
For one-dish dining, serve the onions over dark leaf lettuce with grilled sweet peppers, peeled, seeded and sliced cucumbers and tomatoes, with cooked fish, poultry, or meat, and your favorite salad dressing. Round out the meal with whole grain bread, brown rice, or fresh fruit and you’re set.
What’s to great about onions?
They contain at least 25 identified active disease combating compounds that, like garlic, They posses antibacterial, antifungal, and immune enhancing properties, which may explain their efficacy in warding off colds and relieving upset stomach, and other gastrointestinal imbalances. Onions appear to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, inhibit growth of cancer cells, reduce stroke risk, and aid in preventing heart disease.
“One medium sized onion contains only 38 calories and as much vitamin C as two apples, one banana, one tomato, or one orange. Prevention Magazine named them one of the 25 superfoods for combating heart disease and cancer. So, an onion a day..... is a decent way to increase your odds for a long, healthy, and active life.
Onions top red wine and tea...
in their quercetin content. Quercetin,an antioxidants neutralizes free radicals in your body, protecting your cell membranes from damage. (Yellow onions top red onions here.) And you won’t get pulled over if eat onions and drive––so you can safely indulge----any time! (I do–daily!)
Raw or cooked?
Both have benefits. Cooking softens the bite, sweetens onions, concentrates the volume and nutrients, and allows you to eat more onions in a single sitting. Cooking leaves the antioxidant quercetin intact.
Grilled Onion Rings
Prep: 15 minutes/ Cooking: 15 minutes/Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients:
4 small to medium-size red, white, or yellow onions (about 1 1/4- to 1 ½-pounds)
1 tablespoon unrefined coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons dried, ground rosemary, rubbed sage, dried, crumbled thyme or your favorite blend
1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper or ground black pepper, or to taste, optional
Finely ground, unrefined sea salt (I use Celtic, Malden, or Real Salt), optional
1. Preheat a grill on high if using. A grill pan is another option.
2. Cut off the ends of the onions, then peel back and remove the skin. Slice onions into rounds, about 1/3 to 1/2-inch thick using a mandoline, a chef knife, or a sturdy vegetable knife and arrange on a rimmed baking sheet. Do not cut them too thin or they’ll stick, burn, or fall through the grill grates.
3. Brush the top and bottom sides of the onion rings with oil. Dust with herbs, pepper, and sea salt if desired.
On the grill: Arrrange onion rings on the grill, t hen reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook for 5 to 7 minutes per side, or until the onions darken around the edges and the rings begin to soften and separate. Turning them with 2 spatulas to keep the rings in tact. Do not let them to burn.
In a grill pan: Turn on a ventilator fan. Lightly brush a large grill pan with oil and warm on moderate heat until piping hot. Arrange onion rings in the bottom of the pan. Cook for 4 to 6 minutes per side, or until slightly charred, soft, and rings begin to separate. Repeat with a seocnd batch as needed.
4. Serve warm or chilled. Refrigerate leftovers and use within 4 days.
1 serving: 94 calories, 2 g protein, 14 g carbohydrate (1 g fiber), 4 g fat, 38 mg calcium, 6 mg sodium
Source: My previous book, written with Don Matesz, The Garden of Eating: A Produce-Dominated Diet & Cookbook (Planetary Press, 2004), which you can order from The Garden of Eating Web Site
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