In praise of the humble onion

"Go chop an onion."

If I had a dollar for every time these words came out of my mouth!

Tonight I was in the study catching up on my blog reading, when the smell of next door's dinner wafted in on the evening breeze. On cue, hubby appeared, whining he was hungry. Distracted, I told him if he wanted dinner, he could get it started by chopping an onion. 

And it struck me - how often does my cooking start this way? Most of the time! Almost every one of the recipes I have on regular rotation - spag bog, burritoes, meat and veg, pasta, curries, even pizza - all usually begin with me trying to find a clean chopping board, knife and spare onion. 

These wonderful and versitile vegetables are, in my opinion, very underrated. So handy for just about everything you can think of making in the kitchen from soup to gravy. And all my favourite French recipes always begin with that fabulous process of sauteeing an onion in butter with garlic. Ah, that aroma!

And so, tonight as I pluck my last big brown onion from its string bag, I give thanks to the humble onion that contributes so much to my kitchen. 

What's your favourite thing to do with onions?