Italian Stuffed Onions

bluemoon downunder's Note:

Adapted substantially from a recipe I found on Huey's website. A great side-dish to roasts, grilled or BBQd meats. Yellow onions (for Americans) or brown onions (for Australians) are probably the most suitable and most flavoursome for this recipe. Be careful not to overcook the onions in step one; the outer rings need to be firm enough to serve as a case for the stuffing. If you end up with too much stuffing - and this will very much depend on the size of your onions! - use the extra stuffing to stuff a tomato.

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 6-8

Yield: 8.0 Italian ...

• 4 medium onions or 4 large onions, peeled
• olive oil flavored cooking spray
• 1 -2 tablespoon butter, preferably unsalted
• 2 garlic cloves, finely minced (I generally mince onions and garlic in my mini processor as it's so much easier than chopping)
• 1 large potato, coarsely grated
• sea salt, to taste
• fresh ground pepper, to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme or 1/2 teaspoon thyme, to taste
• mixed Italian herbs, to taste (optional, your choice, I add a blend of rosemary and sage which I really like)
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional ( don't add lemon juice if you don't like citrus flavours!)
• 1 -2 cup baby spinach leaves, chopped (it's okay to include the stems)
• 125 g freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 3 large eggs, lightly whipped
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh parsley

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/6 gas mark.
2. Cook the onions in plenty of rapidly simmering water for about 15 minutes; drain well, cut in half and scoop out about two-thirds of the centre; chop up the inner section of the onions (or mince them in a mini processor) and place the outer rings on a lightly oiled oven tray.
3. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed, preferably non-stick, pan; add the onion and garlic and briefly sauté them until they are tender; add the grated potato and cook briefly until the potato has softened and started to crisp; sprinkle with salt, ground pepper and thyme, to taste; and add optional, additional herbs (if using).
4. Add the lemon juice (if using), chopped baby spinach leaves and grated Parmesan and mix well to cool a little.
5. Then add the eggs and mix until the contents of the pan are well-combined, being careful not to scramble the eggs; check the seasoning and adjust if necessary.
6. Spoon the mixture into the onion rings, sprinkle with a little extra grated Parmesan and cook in the oven for about 15 minutes or until the tops are golden.
7. Serve with a sprinkling of parsley on top, as an accompaniment to your favourite grilled or roasted meat dish or BBQd meat.

Reviews

[Lainey6605]

I made half of this recipe. It was very good! I enjoyed the combination of flavors! It made a nice lunch!

[invictus]

This was a very nice side dish. I can also see adding italian sausage to the stuffing and making this a light and tasty main dish.

[Sharon123]

I enjoyed this recipe! I cut the recipe back for one onion. The potato was a interesting twist for me. I enjoyed the thyme flavor. Thanks for a different and tasty recipe!