The Onion and the air fryer – a match made in heaven
The Onion and the air fryer – a match made in heaven
by Peter Simpson
My favourite time at the Lansdowne Farmers’ Market is in the fall, with a slight chill in the air and seasonal vegetables that seem especially rugged and hearty, the last of the year’s gifts from the land.
Which brings me to locally grown sweet onions, be they white or red (which look purple to me, but don’t get me started). I’m lately obsessed with them, and now that they’re in season in Ontario, I want to share the simplest thing I do with them, a thing too simple to be called a recipe. You only need onions and an air fryer.
We were skeptical about adding an air fryer to Appliance Row, largely because “we never cook fried food at home.” Yet we bought one after I did an absurd amount of research more appropriate to buying a new furnace or replacing a roof. I’m not sure if you can buy an air fryer in the Glebe, but you can at Chef’s Paradise by Doyon Després in Old Ottawa South.
We soon discovered an air fryer’s versatility. It’s excellent for quickly cooking a salmon filet with crispy skin, for example, and it’s my first choice for leftovers. A slice of pizza reheated in the air fryer is better than most pizzas straight from the pizzeria; it’s crispier, and making things crispier is an air fryer superpower.
It’s also ideal for roasting mixed vegetables, which led to my current obsession. I’ve probably eaten more onions in the past six months than I have in any full year of my life.
Here’s all I do. Cut the ends off a big red or white onion. Peel and cut into quarters (or sixes if it’s a freakishly giant onion) and drop into the basket of the air fryer. Do not separate the layers of onion, you want those chunks. Splash a few drops of olive oil (optional) and a touch of salt, slide the basket into the machine, and set it to 375F for 30 minutes.
When done, the onions should look black around the edges and outside, yet they’ll be juicy and sweet on the inside. It’s all a delicious contrast of textures and flavours.
I do this as part of a quick lunch at home, as it makes a quick and excellent side dish. One night at our cottage this summer, I cooked for 10 people, and while some of the meal was comparatively complicated – a boneless leg of Australian lamb marinated overnight, cooked in a sous vide all day, flash-grilled on the BBQ and served with a dark, herbaceous sauce – the onions were simple. I added a couple of sweet yellow and orange peppers, chopped into broad slices. (Given the larger than usual amount in the basket I tossed it all about at the halfway point, which I usually don’t bother to do.) I served the cottage dinner family style, and the first of five bowls/platters to be emptied had held the no-fuss onions and peppers. My guests hoovered up the easiest-to-make dish on the table.
Now, summer over and back in Ottawa, I’m going to air fry an onion for lunch. The missus brought home three perfect Ontario-grown onions from the farmer’s market, two red and one large, curiously shallot-shaped white one. Which will I cook for lunch? More importantly, can I eat two?
Peter Simpson is part of the team at Flora Hall Brewing that writes this monthly column on local food and drink, and he is probably shopping or socializing in the Glebe right now.
