Stuffed Onions

I was looking at some of my favorite web cooking sites and saw an interesting recipe on steamy kitchen.com. Jaden made some Lebanese stuffed onions with a ground lamb, rice and warm spices. I thought what a good idea....

But I immediately thought of the filling for stuffed peppers - especially since we love the idea of stuffed peppers but the cooked peppers don't especially "like" us.

Basically, the method is to boil, steam or microwave a large onion to soften and then cut and pull apart the onion and fill with the rice/meat mixture and roll closed. Then she browned them and baked, I think.

As soon as fall comes and I'm looking for a different casserole dish this will definitely be on my radar.

I make stuffed onions all the time.Except I use cheese. lol

I also do them on the grill.

I have to have colored sweet peppers ,the green ones No NO..I am making stuffed peppers today.Stove top in a skillet.

I've done the onions on the grill wrapped in foil and added butter & seasonings....yum! I just never really thought of filling them with a meat/rice mixture.

Every time I look around the web and see something that is such a simple idea - well, it amazes me I never thought of doing that.

I've done the onions on the grill wrapped in foil and added butter & seasonings....yum! I just never really thought of filling them with a meat/rice mixture.

We do onions in foil all the time on the grill, too, Beth. Sometimes I slice the onions in 8 parts but I don't go thru to the bottom. I put thinly sliced garlic in each of the slits, and put salt, pepper, and a bay leaf on top. We also try different additions of olive oil with a bit of stock, a piece of a bouillion cube, or top with a slice of smoked red bell pepper. They come out really great and are next to no calories, too.

No calories, Crybaby?? Mine are ALWAYS swimming in butter....LOL. Well, maybe not. And I think onions are my go-to for adding flavor to just about anything, especially since Dane cannot tolerate the use of garlic.

When I get back to the villa in September I'm going to start to play around with more vegetables on the grill. I regularly do onions, zucchini and bok choy, but I think it's time to think outside the box and see what is available at the market and then go home and figure out how best to cook on the grill. So, if you and Brian have any ideas, please share your ideas.

Oh, I did do the stuffed mushrooms on the grill...in a disposable foil pie pan, and they were fabulous. But since the filling was cream cheese and bacon it wasn't what I would consider a healthy vegetable, but rather a guilty pleasure! LOL

One veggie we do on the grill is whole tomatoes.  We slice the top off and remove any core still showing.  Cut the tomatoes downward in either 4, 6 or 8 sections but don't cut all the way thru so the tomato itself is still "whole."  Clean some green onions and then put each one (or if they're big, slice each green onion down the length of it) across the tomato in each of the slits you cut.  We then season with salt, freshly ground pepper, garlic powder and usually oregano.  We also will stuff the slits with whole or sliced fresh basil too.  If desired, you can put about a teaspoon of grated cheese (parmesan, Romano or gruyere) into the middle of the tomato.  Then put four or so into a square or round baking pan that you can use on the grill.  On an indirect fire, put the pan on the "free" side and then cover.  Ten or 15 minutes should suffice.

If you don't want to add the grated cheese, you can also put about a half-teaspoon of EVOO onto the center of the tomato prior to placing the pan on the grill.  

It will look basically like a whole tomato with thin green onions "splayed" across it like so it looks like a "sun with thin rays across it."  

Delicious, low cal, good for you and pretty on your plate!  Also a good veggie to add color to your plate.

Nice idea, crybaby.  I'm thinking that would b good to then cut and put on top of some bruschetta.

I broil tomates with butter, salt and bread crumbs but I like that one, Crybaby. Copied and filed for use later when fresh tomatoes are at the Farmers Market.

For some reason I keep returning to this tomato thread.

I am so hungry for some oven dehydrated Roma type tomatoes....the ones I use for appetizers on toasted bread with fresh mozzarella and a sprinkle of basil.

I didn't plant any basil this year but my tomato plants are full of fruit.  They will probably most go to waste because I'll  be back down at the villa and DD (who doesn't like tomatoes) will just pull the vines and toss them into the woods.  Oh, well, all six plants are volunteer so it's not like I paid a high price for them.  

I'll have to go back through my pics from last year and see if I can find one so you all remember what I'm talking about.

NormM wrote:I broil tomates with butter, salt and bread crumbs but I like that one, Crybaby. Copied and filed for use later when fresh tomatoes are at the Farmers Market.

They're really good, Norm, and pretty, too.

I've posted the following recipe a couple of times but if you like broiled tomatoes, do try it. I even make it in the summer as the broiler doesn't have to be on very long to make these.

Broiled Tomatoes

1/4 cup Mayonnaise
1/4 cup Grated Parmesan or Gruyere Cheese (Romano okay too)
1/4 cup Minced Shallot or Green Onion
2 tablespoons Minced Parsley
2 large Ripe Tomatoes, sliced into thick slices, about 1/2”

Preheat broiler. Combine all ingredients except tomatoes in small bowl and blend well. Gently spread mixture about 1/4 inch thick on tomatoes. Broil 4 inches from heat source until lightly browned, about 2 to 3 minutes. Serve immediately.

Serves 6.

Recipe from “Too Busy To Cook”, Bon Appetit.

Beth, your tomato appetizer looks delicious. I can never eat too many tomatoes -- no matter what the form.

I'm just about to pull up one of my basil plants to make some pesto. I think I mentioned here that the last time I made some, I used pumpkin seeds (toasted) instead of pine nuts. Brian said he couldn't taste the difference but I thought it tasted even better than usual. And the pumpkin seeds are a hell of a lot cheaper than pine nuts!

Love, love, love basil and there's nothing better than basil with tomatoes -- fresh mozzarella, of course, makes them both heavenly!

Recipe copied and filed.

Yes, Crybaby, I do one similar but I've started to add some fresh chopped thyme with the parsley for tomatoes because I like the flavors together.

The mayo makes it easy to keep everything in place.

bethk wrote:Yes, Crybaby, I do one similar but I've started to add some fresh chopped thyme with the parsley for tomatoes because I like the flavors together.  

The mayo makes it easy to keep everything in place.

Oregano is good on tomatoes, too.  

Yeah, mayo is definitely something I'd not dream of broiling but this not only looks good, it tastes divine.

Years ago, I worked in advertising at a full service agency (I was an account executive and was then promoted to an account supervisor and was made a VP of the company).  I thought it was what I wanted to do for the get go.  Not!  I worked so many hours and also traveled (which Brian HATED).  One night I came home from work about 9:00 p.m. (kind of early compared to a normal night) and Brian had made dinner.  He said he couldn't find the "recipe" for my stuffed tomatoes (I don't use one) so he looked in a few of my cookbooks and found the recipe for Broiled Tomatoes, in a Bon Appetit cookbook I'd bought containing most of the recipes in their "Too Busy to Cook" column.  He was so tickled that I not only liked them but raved about them.  

From that night on, we made them on a regular basis.  I also started writing down some of my recipes (i.e., how I made different dishes) so Brian could feel confident making them when I wasn't there to coach him.  We've always had a joke between us that if we split up, "I'm taking my recipes with me!"  After 34 years together, I doubt we'll split up but we both still laugh when I say it.  Years ago, he started replying occasionally, "Won't you be surprised when you find out I already copied them all?!"