The Onion Family

Can there be any country in the world that does not rely upon the onion family as the foundation of its cooking? Alliums are intrinsic to stocks, broths, marinades, soups, sauces and stews everywhere. In the Far East, onion, shallots and garlic are pounded with chillies and ginger to make spice pastes for flavouring meat, fish and vegetables; in Spain and Portugal onions and garlic are cooked slowly with tomatoes to make a sofrito or refogado respectively, then stored to use as the basis of virtually all savoury dishes; in America’s Deep South, onions, together with carrots and celery, form the famous ‘Holy Trinity’ that is fried up before adding other ingredients. Not just a flavouring, alliums also play a starring role in dishes as diverse as the onion and leek tarts of France, the onion pickles and chutneys of both the UK and the Middle East, the aïoli and skordalia of Provence and Greece, the bhajis of India and the champ of Northern Ireland.