Home-Garden Green Onion Flower Buds Salad

I love scallions, they don't form bulging bulbs and are harvested tender, with the white parts that are milder than pungent regular onions.

But, I really like Spring Onions in my garden. If tended to carefully, they won't bolt, and will grow fine tender bulbs for harvesting. However, since I like the onion buds and flowers, I just let them bolt and go to seed.

Since I continuously harvest the young tender green parts anyway while the onion grows and matures, and since I plant them staggered a few weeks apart, I get a regular supply throughout spring and summer.

The buds/flowers are sharp and peppery, with a pleasant bite that doesn't unclog sinuses.

This salad here was thrown together in a hurry, with some radish greens and kale forming the base greens, topped with capers, red radish, mango, nectarine, grapes, plus strawberries from the garden, garnished with these gorgeous and delicious onion flower buds. A simple citrusy-vinaigrette is all it takes to make this salad special.

Walla Walla Sweet Onion Pressure Cooked Flavorful Chicken Breasts

Cooking is a personal meditative activity for me that offers simple satisfaction, while constantly inspiring and educating me. Sometimes, the unconventional combinations here that seem to flout tradition and good sense, might get a disdainful scorn from experienced chefs, but, I just smile calmly and refrain from knotting myself up over it.

Anyway, the other adult brought home a couple of chicken breasts that I've been trying to cook up in small installments over the week. Nothing too fancy this time around.

I wanted to pressure cook the chicken breasts with herbs and spices, then top it with a simple reduced sauce. However, this being the season, I threw in a couple of whole Walla Walla Sweet Onions and about a dozen cloves of fresh garlic.

Chicken breasts were rubbed with paprika and brown sugar first, then browned on both sides in the pressure cooker pan in hot oil. The peeled whole sweet onions and garlic were tossed in as well. Then, some Apple cider vinegar, Braggs Liquid aminos, Mirin, stone ground brown mustard went into the cooker, with a scoop of water, just enough to build up steam.

Once pressure cooked, the chicken breasts came out (after confirming the internal temperature of at least 170 °F) and the liquid in the pressure cooker pan was reduced till thick and saucy.

Meanwhile, I sautéed the beet greens on the side.

I didn't measure anything accurately for this recipe, so, no specifics to share. But, the recipe is so easy and versatile that it can be adapted to taste without much effort.

While kids enjoy simple staples like

 Orange Chicken and Almond-flax Baked Chicken nuggets and Chicken Satay, 

the other adult is always up for anything new like

Dark Cocoa and Fig Chicken, or

Cu Chulainn Chicken, or

Lychee Chicken, or,

Ginger Lavender Chicken, or

Peanut Chicken, or

Mango and Pepper Sauce Chicken, or

Chicken with Juniper Berries and Red Pepper Sauce, or,

Stuffed Chicken breast with Mole Sauce, or

 Guaje Chicken, or,

Chicken in Plum Sauce...

which makes it fun for me to cook up something new and interesting each time.

Sauces are so much fun!

Simple Onion Soup

I haven't been cooking anything exotic for a while now... mostly simple soups, or some of my old favorites. As I was sifting through, I realized I have not posted this simple onion soup recipe.

Nothing fancy, but, it turned out to be sumptuous and satisfying on a cold winter night a few weeks ago. It is a thin, watery soup, sort of like my favorite rasam :)

Ingredients
1 large yellow onion, sliced thin
1 can low sodium chicken or vegetable stock
3 Tbsp Frank's™ Red Hot sauce
1-2 Tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup herbed dry stuffing mix
2-4 Tbsp of your favorite blend of dried/fresh herbs: I used rosemary, marjoram, parsley and chives
water as needed
1 Tbsp canola oil
2 tsp brown sugar (optional)

Preparation

1. heat the oil in a pan and sauté the onions till they carmelize
2. add all the rest of the ingredients except water and stuffing mix and allow to simmer gently for a few minutes; add a little water if needed; adjust flavors to taste
3. when ready to serve, add the stuffing mix to the bowl, pour some hot soup on top and serve right away; by the time it cools enough to start enjoying the soup, the bread in the stuffing mix is well softened and ready