Potato Boulangere

Ingredients:

3 small russet potatoes

2 small yellow onions

2 tbsp butter 

2 tbsp olive oil, plus some for oiling the pan. 

Salt

Pepper

Adapted for two people from The James Beard Foundation

Preheat oven to 375*F. 

Oil a small 4” dish. 

Thinly slice your onions and potatoes. If you have a mandolin, that’s the best way to do it, but watch out for your fingertips! I used a knife because our mandolin is MIA. 

Cook the onions with the butter and olive oil until they’re soft and golden. I didn’t know exactly when this was, but stopped when it was about here. 

Start with a layer of potatoes until you can’t see the bottom of your dish. Add a layer of onion and some salt and pepper. Keep going until you’re out of potatoes and onions or until you have the stack as tall as you want it. 

Add water to the dish until the top layer of potatoes are just covered. (All the way up over the top layer. I didn’t do this and the top layer dried out and were sad.)

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the potatoes are all the way soft. (For me, that was actually about an hour.) Then serve. 

Spanish red onion and orange salad

Welcome back to my food blog. It’s been a hot minute. 

Ingredients:

4 oranges

1 small (!!) red onion

2tbsp vinegar (your choice - I have an use strawberry for this, apple cider vinegar works great, and so does lemon juice instead)

6tbsp olive oil 

Small can black olives, sliced 

2tbsp sunflower or pumpkin seeds, toasted

A few mint leaves, chopped

Salt

Black pepper

Peel orange with a knife, slicing the top and bottom off, and then removing rest. Segment orange out, removing the outer casing. I use a knife for this since it’s easier than trying to peel everything yourself. 

Alice the red onion into thin strips. Mix together in a bowl with the orange segments, sunflower/pumpkin seeds, olives, and chopped mint. 

In a jar, combine the oil, vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. Shake vigorously (with lid on) to make your vinaigrette. 

Dress salad and serve. 

Shoutout to Spain Recipes for this great recipe. 

Brown Braised Onions

Brown braised onions are one of my favorite side dishes. I can eat them all by themselves. Who needs a main dish when you've got onions simmered in butter, wine and broth? I found the recipe in a marvelous cook book by Julia Child. However, since I can't find it now I'm doing this basically from memory. It worked pretty well.

Prep time: 30 mins (I'm slow at peeling pearl onions)
Cook time: 45 mins

Ingredients:
1 bag pearl onions
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1/4 c beef broth
3/4 c red wine
1 tbsp butter

Directions:

Cut the tops and the bottoms off of your pearl onions. Since they look best and hold up best whole, do your best not to slice through the layers lengthwise when you're peeling the outer layers off.

In a pan where all the onions can touch bottom, simmer the herbs, onions, butter and 1/4 cup of the red wine. When the wine has reduced to the point that it would coat the back of a spoon, add the beef broth. Repeat until all the wine and broth has been used.

The onions are finished when the last of the liquid has simmered down to a sauce.

Serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings as a side dish.