"Stuffing" Stuffed Onions

I am really excited because I am going to be cooking Thanksgiving Dinner this year as a kick off to my holiday season and I have invited the Sister Missionaries over to share it with us.  So I have spent a few days test driving a few recipes in anticipation of the holiday meal!

 

These "stuffing" stuffed onions were just fabulous.  I did a smaller version of the recipe for just us three to try out and we all really enjoyed them. I don't know why I didn't think of doing this before.  They were fabulous!



They were really simple to do.   I researched them and found a few recipes which I liked and used the best parts of each to make up my own thing.  These just have a bread stuffing in them, but you could also stuff them with pork and rice and all sorts.   For Thanksgiving, I wanted just bread stuffing.

 

You will want to use a medium to small sized onion for this side dish.  If you were doing them as a main dish with a heartier stuffing, larger ones would be the order of the day.  These were really simple to make. I used a melon baller to hollow them out.  It worked a charm.



The bits that I had from hollowing them out were then finely chopped and cooked with some chopped celery to use in the stuffing.   Toasted French bread cubes created the bulk of the stuffing.  Some butter and stock and herbs make up the rest.



You could of course use your own favourite stuffing mixture for these if you wanted to.   They would be lovely sitting around your roasted bird.  I think that would make for a beautiful presentation!  These were a winner/winner!  Perfect for Thanksgiving or for Christmas dinner!

 

*Stuffing - Stuffed Onions*

Serves 8

Printable Recipe  

Roasted onions, stuffed with a savoury bread stuffing.   Deliciously different. 

8 medium to smallish onions

300ml of chicken stock (1 1/2 cups)

125g of butter, divided

2 sticks of celery, trimmed and chopped

a small bunch of flat leaf parsley finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)

1 TBS finely chopped fresh sage

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

150g of fresh French Bread breadcrumbs, lightly toasted

60ml of additional stock (1/4 cup) 

Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7.   Have a baking dish large enough to hold all of your onions ready. 

Cut a very thin slice from the bottom of the onions so that they stand upright easily without falling over.  Trim off and discard 1/2 inch from the top of each onion.   Peel the onions.  Remove and reserve the centre of each onion, leaving about 2 layers of onion as a thick shell.  I find a melon baller makes this very easy to do.  Finely chop the centres.  Measure out half of them.   Place the other half in a container and freeze for another use at another time. 

Place the onion shells in the baking dish and pour 225ml of the broth in the bottom of the dish.  Cut 2 TBS of the butter into 8 pieces and place one piece inside each hollos.  Cover the dish with aluminium foil and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until tender.  Remove to a wire rack, uncover and cool for half an hour while you make the stuffing.


Reduce the oven temperature to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.


Melt 4 TBS of butter in a large skillet until it begins to foam.   Add the celery and onion.   Saute until softened, stirring occasionally, without browning.   Stir in the parsley and sage.  Cook, stirring constantly, for about a minute, until quite fragrant.   Stir in the bread crumbs, salt, pepper.   Pour any liquid accumulated in the baking dish from the onions into a cup measure.   Add enough chicken stock to make 225ml/1 cup.    Add this to the bread crumb mixture.   Fill the hollowed onions with the stuffing and return them to the baking dish.  Add about 60ml of stock to the pan.  (About 1/4 cup)  Bake in the heated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until the stuffing is golden brown and heated through.   Transfer to a serving platter.   Stir the remaining 2 TBS of butter into the pan juices and spoon these over the onions.   Serve hot.