MY KITCHEN IN SPAIN: LUCKY US—VEGETABLES FROM THE GARDEN

Saturday, April 11, 2020

LUCKY US—VEGETABLES FROM THE GARDEN

I´m a bit of a recluse, so, as long as I’ve got plenty of food, drink, reading material and wi-fi to connect with friends, social distancing is no real hardship. (I’ve finally cleaned up two years of photo files!)

But, my son Ben, a surfer, is suffering under lockdown. The beaches are closed and police patrol the access roads. On days when the live webcam shows good surf, I steer clear of him, knowing he’s on edge.

His edgy mood has some benefits. One day he pulled up all the onions from a small huerta (vegetable garden), dug up the plot, hauled manure to dig into the soil, planted out several dozen tomato seedlings and cut cane to stake them up.

Which is how I came by this basket of onions.

Freshly harvested onions are exceptionally sweet.

Someone on the Facebook group, KitchenQuarantine, posted a photo of fried onion rings. Don’t they look good! I haven’t made onion rings in donkey’s years. I just happen to have some leftover frying batter (see last week’s post for fried cod).

The next day, after Ben had cleared another huerta of kale and chard (for me to process and freeze), turned the soil and planted bean seeds, I rewarded him with a platter of batter-fried onions. His mood improved perceptibly, but that may have been because the surf had receded and the digging was done.

Batter-fried onion rings. A touch of saffron in the batter gives them a golden hue.

Batter-Fried Onion Rings
Aros de Cebolla Rebozados

Slice onions crosswise.

A dusting of flour on the onions absorbs excess moisture and helps the batter adhere. Use any favorite frying batter (see below for links to several recipes for batter).

Fried onions can be reheated in a hot (400ºF) oven until they start to sizzle and crisp up.

2 large onions
Flour
Batter (recipe is here )
Olive oil for frying
Salt

Dust rings with flour.

Remove outer skin from onions. Cut them crosswise into ½ inch-slices. Gently push the slices to separate the rings. Spread them on a sheet pan and dust them lightly with flour.

Best fried in olive oil.

Heat oil in a deep pan. Dip onion rings, a few at a time, in the batter, letting excess drip off. Fry them, turning once, until golden-brown. (It's not necessary to use a fryer with wire basket.)

Regulate the heat so onions don’t brown too quickly. Skim them out and drain on a rack over sheet pan lined with paper towels. Sprinkle with salt.