The Onion Fayre

Harvest time in the UK brings with it many fairs held in our old market towns where all sorts of weird and wonderful events take place. Locally we have anything from Elver (baby eels) Eating Competitions (not a pretty sight) to the fine art of Piano bashing. Now I know why the rest of the world think the British are mad.

Last weekend Newent, in Gloucestershire, (www.newentonionfayre.co.uk) held its Onion Fayre. I went along to have a look and now I am an Onion Expert (well, may be not). Like most of the towns in Britain, Newent has held fairs since the 10th century. Onions go back even further. The ancient Egyptians actually worshipped the onion believing that its spherical shape and concentric rings symbolised eternity (and they think the British are weird!).

Love them or hate them Onions are good for you – they are effective against colds, heart disease, diabetes and osteoporosis. In many parts of the third world onions are used to heal blisters and boils.

We all know that they make you cry but did you know that a firm in Toronto, Canada, attempted to utilize this property of onions in the manufacture of a form of tear gas? It was marketed in 1991 but was unsuccessful as it only had a shelf life of three months.

According to an old English Rhyme, the thickness of an onion skin can help predict the severity of the winter. Thin skins mean a mild winter is coming while thick skins indicate a rough winter ahead. If this is the case then we can reliably look forward to a mild one this year as all my onions out of the garden have thin skins! I will have to see it to believe it.

Oh and by the way, if you eat onions you can get rid of onion breath by eating parsley.

Several cocktails are traditionally garnished with pearl onions. The Webtender (which is an online bartender) at www.webtender.com lists them as The Gibson, the Gent of the Jury, Patton Martini, Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster #2 and the Yellow Rattler. The Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster appealed to me as I have fond memories of The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I think a friend of mine even named their first car after it. Maybe that was before he had drunk one.

Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster #2

70 ml Champagne or sparkling wine
20 ml Vodka
10 ml Blue Curacao
1 Sugar cube
1 splash Angostura bitters
1 Cocktail onion

Mixing instructions:

Splash a puddle of Angostura bitters into a saucer and place the sugar cube in it to soak. This will take a minute or two. Stir the Champagne (or sparkling wine), the Vodka and the Blue Curacao together in a container and put into the fridge to chill. Place the soaked sugar cube in the bottom of the Champagne glass, pour in the mixture and add drop in the cocktail onion, which should be loose, not on a cocktail stick.

There are various old English recipes for making home made Onion Wine – but try as I might I can not pluck up the courage to make it. The thought of having to drink it brings back memories of Cod Liver Syrup etc. Do you remember that disgusting cough syrup that had a suspiciously oniony flavour? Anyway, Sue tells met that you can make an Onion Wine to use in cooking as a sauce:

From Sue . . .

I use Spanish Onions in this as they are sweet and less strong than our British ones.

Onion Wine Sauce

2 tbsps minced Spanish Onion
3 tbsp rice wine

Tie the minced onion in a clean cloth and soak overnight in the rice wine, then remove the onion and use the wine as required. It can be kept in a screw topped container for several weeks.

You can use this as a marinade for fish or chicken – especially in Chinese cookery. It goes well with the recipe below.

Spring Onions With Monkfish

6 Spring Onions, Chopped
250g Monkfish, cubed
1 Celery stalk
4 tbsp Pine Nuts
1 Red Pepper, chopped
2 tbsp Onion Wine Sauce
2 tbsp Sesame Seed Oil

Marinate the Monkfish in the Onion Wine Sauce. Fry the Pine Nuts in 1 tbsp sesame seed oil till crispy. Remove to a dish. Heat the wok with the other tbsp of oil and stir fry the Monkfish, Pepper and Celery. Add the Pine Nuts and Spring Onion, stir fry and then serve.

Images courtesy of www.cdc.gov and www.freeimages.co.uk