Cippolini

CIPPOLINI ~ chi poh LEE nee . . . In English, “small onions”. The Italian word for onion is “cippola”. Small onion: “cippoline”. Small onions (plural): “cippolini”. So, then, of course, it bugs me to refer to cippolini as "CIPPOLINI ONIONS" because then, that would be redundant, am I wrong? “No, you’re not wrong, Walter, you’re just an _ _ _ _ _ _ _.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdoo43sp3ZY tooooooo funny..... sorry about that. I couldn’t help myself. Big Lebowski fans will understand.

Mom & Vito on H.S. Graduation Day
circa 1947

Next up . . . why cippolini remind me of my maternal grandfather,

“Buh-vi-TOOCH”:

Daddy, Mom, Mom's Great Grandma & Papa Detroit
(aka Vito DePalma, aka "Buh-vi-TOOCH"

Cippolini are much loved in my family and are certainly at the top of my onion love list.  The cippolini of my mom’s childhood are onions of a stronger and larger variety. Very flat shape. Very distinct flavor.  My mom has vivid memories of her father, Vito’s, cippolini. Mom remembers these delicious onions and how they ate them with everything. Vito regularly picked them up at “the market” near their home in Detroit. Vito DePalma (fondly known as “Buh-vi-TOOCH”), hailed from Bari, Italy (located in the Puglia region of Italy along the Adriatic Sea). He was an excellent home cook, pan frying cippolini in olive

oil, and known for frying his delectable artichokes (“skar-CHOFE”) while “Nani Detroit” (aka Theresa DePalma) made the pasta. As a testament to Vito being a fearless and adventurous cook, the family woke one morning to Vito’s yelling & ranting about the live snails that had apparently tipped the lid off of the pot in which they were being stored.  They were crawling around on the floor and stairs! Hmmm, ya think they might have known that escargot was on the day’s menu? I’m sure Papa was p.o.’d. Em was crackin’ up laughing when she recounted the story with me on the phone this morning. I have yet to attempt snails. I have never been able to duplicate Vito’s artichokes and I still tend to mutilate them when trying to trim them properly. I want to be sure I have some Vito in me.  At least I know how to make cippolini.

So, there are many easy methods of cooking these onions, from stovetop to oven to grill, but today, I’ll share this really simple method with you. Today’s cippolini can be found at your local supermarket, right near the garlic, shallots and pearl onions in the produce section (“Melissa’s” brand must be rakin’ it in because I never see any other brands at the local stores) although Whole Foods does sell bulk cippolini in the produce section of their stores. Note: Feel free to roast pearl onions if you can't find cipollini . . . shallots are also delicious. 

Sammy demonstrates the process,
using pearl onions (New Year's Eve 2009)

Roasted Cipollini

1 1/2 lbs. of Cippolini (three 8 oz. packages)

A drizzle of olive oil (few tablespoons)

About 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar*

A sprinkle of kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Fresh herbs**, whole or torn

*Your choice of balsamic vinegar - I love Honey Ridge Farms award-winning Honey Balsamic Vinegar or a sweet and delicious authentic Italian Balsamic from Modena or a sweet and tangy white or golden balsamic vinegar. Select a vinegar that has a bit of sweetness.

**Fresh thyme and onions are a match made in heaven. Sage is also excellent. Fresh oregano is excellent in season. Fresh rosemary would be delicious. In a pinch, use a bit of dried thyme or oregano if you don’t have any fresh herbs.

Before I explain this, please don’t try and get away with buying one 8 oz. bag of onions. Make it worth your effort. One bag will yield very little. By the time you peel, trim and cook them, you’ll only end up with a teentsy amount. I usually end up with one pint size deli container of roasted onions from 1 1/2 lbs of raw, unpeeled onions. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Add the onions to the boiling water. Slightly reduce the heat to medium high and let onions boil for a few minutes so that their skin will be easy to remove. Drain in colander. Peel and trim them with a sharp paring knife, leaving onions whole. Seriously, that’s the most tedious task. The rest is a breeze.Toss into a baking dish. You can use an aluminum foil pan or pie plate if you like, for easy cleanup. Add all above ingredients. Stir to coat. Pop into preheated oven on the middle rack for about an hour, stirring once or twice until the onions are nicely coated and glazed. Remove from oven and allow to cool. I keep these stored in the fridge in a plastic deli container (they don’t sit around for long because they’re hard to resist). If chilled, allow to sit and and warm to room temperature before serving.

Mixed Green Salad with Roasted Cippolini

Tender mixed greens like arugula,

tango, red oak, frisee’ and baby red romaine

(about 10 or 12 ounces)

balsamic vinegar

olive oil

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

feta cheese 

roasted cippolini (as explained above)

Into a very large mixing bowl, toss in the salad greens. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. More vinegar than oil. I’d say I usually go with a 3 to 1 vinegar to oil ratio. Please don’t ask me how much oil! Don’t overdo it. Vito used to say “...just baptize the greens...” Sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Toss gently. Taste! If you like it tangier, add more vinegar. Spread tossed and dressed greens onto serving platter. Crumble desired amount of feta cheese onto the salad. Top with cippolini. Add more freshly ground black pepper if you like. Serve immediately. 

KPK Interesting Cipollini Fact:

Did you know that there’s a very colorful, ex-professional-bicyclist by the name of Mario Cipollini? “Mario Small-Onions”. You'll only find it here, in KPK.

http://www.mariocipollini.eu/en/gallery

Today's Onion Quote:

"Life 

is like an onion: you peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep".                                                                     

Carl Sandburg 

Love, Katie