Now Is the Time To Stuff Your Vegetables With Bread and Cheese
Less than two minutes after I put two yellow onions in the oven, their deep, sweet aroma began to perfume my apartment. Yes, I could barely wait to eat onions. But not just any onions: I’m talking about these onions, filled with mushroom fonduta, which I first learned about in Andrea Carlson’s new book Burdock & Co: Poetic Recipes Inspired by Ocean, Land & Air.
As the onions became more and more fragrant, I told myself to stop and breathe. Fall is the season of roasting, slow cooking, and anticipating. It’s the season of popping your food into the oven and waiting patiently, knowing that after an hour of being boxed in with the perfect amount of heat, your dinner will come out tasting just as appetizing as it smells.
We all know that whether you’re talking Brussels sprouts or sweet potatoes or acorn squash, roasted vegetables are a fall-time nonnegotiable. But I’ve learned that your autumn really isn't complete until you hollow out those vegetables and pack them full of ingredients that bring you comfort and warmth.
In Carlson's recipe, you roast the onions until they become soft and pliant enough that you can scoop out the insides, leaving the outer two layers intact. Then you get to stuffing, packing each globe with a mix of torn sourdough bread, sautéed wild mushrooms, cream, and melted Gruyère. It’s rich and cheesy, and remarkably simple to make; there’s no fancy bechamel required.
The result: basically a bread bowl, but reversed.
One bite of the bubbling ball of mushroomy fondue confirmed what I already knew to be true: now is the time to stuff all your vegetables with cheese and carbs.
“I love doing fondue in fall and winter. It’s just so cozy and satisfying, and an onion seemed like the perfect vessel for it,” Carlson told me over the phone. The onions come out caramelized, with a mild, sweet flavor, allowing the fancy mushrooms to take center stage. Carlson uses intensely flavored pine mushrooms—also known as matsutake—but the recipe is also delicious with more easily acquired shiitake mushrooms in the mix.
And there’s no reason to stop at onions—I implore you to stuff any vegetable your heart desires. You can go big by making something like Dorie Greenspan’s famous Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good. It’s quite an autumnal centerpiece, baked with a filing of savory bacon, bits of bread, and an assortment of pungent cheeses. Or you can go small, offering bite-sized cremini mushrooms stuffed with zesty panko bread crumbs.
“Sometimes people don’t know what to do with the more exotic ingredients that come into season—like the wide variety of mushrooms—other than pan-fry them, or put them in pasta,” said Carlson. “This is a way to shake things up and get creative.”
Large or small, these bread-and-cheese stuffed vegetables deserve a place on the table when you’re hosting a crowd for a holiday meal. But even though the flavors feel festive, I’m not going to wait that long. This weekend I’ve got another date with a warm oven and a luscious serving of cheese-stuffed onions for one.
Walla Walla Onion, Pine Mushroom Fonduta
Originally Appeared on Epicurious
