Author Archives: Cherylanne Skolnicki

Onions and Shallots and Leeks…oh my!


Alliums. I’m not sure I even knew what that word meant until I learned one of my clients had an allergy to everything in the allium family. Since I’d have to get creative to develop recipes without alliums, I figured I’d better learn exactly what they were!

It turns out that alliums are the botanical name for the members of the onion family which includes onions, leeks, shallots, garlic, chives, scallions and apparently about 700 other species. After I finished lamenting the flavor we’d be sacrificing by NOT including these in the meals my client and I would concoct, I started to think about exactly why I was so attached to all-things-onion. So here goes…an ode to alliums.


Top 5 things I love about alliums:
1 – They are the best aromatic in the gastronomic world.
2 – They add substance and flavor without adding fat or (significant) calories.
3 – They add depth to dishes and can be used choicefully to evoke flavor nuances.
4 – They can be used raw OR cooked and taste completely different each way.
5 – They have a long shelf life and are easy to keep on hand.

Here’s a closer look at the merits of each of these popular members of the allium family…

Onions
As both a vegetable AND a flavoring agent, this is the staple allium in most kitchens. Fresh, these are delicate enough to be sliced onto a sandwich or burger. Storage onions (the kind with papery skins you see in grocery stores in bulk or net bags) have a somewhat stronger flavor but a really long shelf life when properly stored. They form the basis for many savory dishes like soups, stews, casseroles, and stir frys. Onions have a heavier, earthier flavor profile than their counterparts which follow, less of a bitey fresh taste, so they don’t lend themselves AS well to fresh dishes. Of the storage varieties, yellow onions are the most pungent, followed by white, spanish, bermuda, red, pearl and vidalia. When I think about how I’d use these

Yellow – basic all purpose onion
White – often used in Mexican cooking
Spanish or Bermuda – great in creamy soups and sauces because of texture
Red – beautiful color and mild flavor so good raw in salads or sliced on burgers or sandwiches
Pearl – good for pickling (due to size) or added whole to stews (cooks quickly)
Vidalia – very juicy and much sweeter than others – good both raw and cooked (*this is MY go-to variety)

Scallions (aka Green Onions)
Generally eaten raw in salads, these can also be cooked and often are used in Asian stir frys or Mexican dishes as a garnish. They have a mild, delicate flavor in both raw and cooked dishes and can be used when onion would be overpowering.

Garlic
This is by far the most pungent member of the onion family but the flavor mellows considerably when cooked vs. eaten raw. A slow-cooked dish with garlic (or even a whole head of garlic roasted unpeeled and then squeezed out and spread on bread) can be much sweeter and less “garlicky” than anything made with raw garlic. The fresher the garlic is (i.e. harvested in the spring when in season), the subtler the flavor is. Garlic is an essential flavoring in nearly all ethnic cuisines.

Shallots
Shallots are intense in flavor but without being overly pungent. I describe the flavor as “bitey” or “bracing” and love to use diced fresh shallots in salads or homemade salad dressings or in compound butter. When sauteed, shallot flavor mellows considerably. I like to saute them with mushrooms in a little olive oil and butter and toss with steamed green beans or other green vegetables. I love the complexity they add to sauces when sauteed. I also use them in the base for many of my pasta sauces and risottos as they pair beautifully with white wine.

Leeks
Leeks are far more delicate in taste than onions and make a more gentle flavoring for soups. They are famously paired with potato in potato-leek soup but are also quite delicious as a vegetable on their own…simmered in butter especially!

Chives
While technically an allium, chives are most often used as an herb. They have a fine, delicate flavor that pairs well with eggs (in an omelet especially) or potatoes (on top of baked potato or mixed into mashed potatoes or in potato salad!). They make a beautiful fresh garnish for pureed soups or cooked vegetables.

So there you have it…an ode to alliums! As for the client with the allergy? We’re working on ways to amp up flavor WITHOUT these precious gems…I’ll keep you posted on our experiments!

This entry was posted in All blog posts, Food and tagged , , , , , , , on by .

Buying Organic on a Budget


I’m often asked questions by clients about how affordable it really is to eat healthfully, or more specifically to eat organically. Oprah recently had Michael Pollan (author of Food Rules , In Defense of Food, and The Omnivore’s Dilemma and contributor to the movie Food Inc.) on her show. And today, her website posted this article by an Oprah.com writer who attempted to follow the movie’s guidance AND stick to her budget.


I thought I’d share it with you, as it makes the case that while there are financial tradeoffs involved, they are not insurmountable, and can be readily overcome through cost savings in other budget areas. Beyond that, they are WORTH it, and we need to start thinking about finding the best quality as our objective when buying food as opposed to finding the lowest cost.

From a personal perspective, when my family converted to organic milk, I was a little worried about DOUBLING the cost of milk with two preschool-age milk-drinkers in the house. In truth the extra six or seven dollars a week for the two gallons they drink was easily recouped by cutting back on other things (like brewing my own coffee vs buying it from a coffee shop or taking a lunch vs. buying it at work one day a week). Once I’d convinced myself of the value of organic milk, these were pretty easy ideas to generate!

Organic meats took us a bit longer to try and I’m not 100% converted yet but I do now buy organic MOST of the time. Organic meat is definitely more expensive, so it’s helped us to view meat as something we need less of overall…and to really savor what we do buy.

That’s the whole game as far as I’m concerned…quality over quantity….excellence over frequency. It’s a process to change the way we’ve been taught to think about food (which I would paraphrase as “get as much of it as you can, as cheaply as possible”) but it’s nice to see other writers helping to explain that the effort is one worth undertaking.


This entry was posted in All blog posts, Food and tagged , , , , , on by .

A meal to welcome spring


Spring has sprung here…or so it seems. We’ve had a gorgeous preview of spring this week with temperatures in the 60s and streets filled with children in short sleeves playing with abandon in the sunshine. That first breath of spring air always changes my palate in an instant. I am passionate about cooking seasonally, and days like we’ve had this week make me start to crave lighter, greener foods. I want to fire up the grill (without having to brush the snow off of it first!) and smell the char of a steak or the smoky edge of shrimp. I want to steam asparagus and toss salads of mixed greens with lemony vinaigrettes. Gone is my desire to spend the day near the stove stirring warm, comforting foods…the soups and stews that have satisfied and nourished our family through the cold and snowy days of winter here in the Midwest. Changing the foods on the table is like throwing off the comforter and quilts of winter to reveal crisp white sheets and light coverlets of spring. Aaaaah.

Tonight we’re having Mediterranean Grilled Vegetables on whole wheat flatbread. I’ll grill red, yellow and green peppers, a sweet Vidalia onion, some baby zucchini, and a handful of cherry tomatoes tossed in olive oil till the edges are charred and the pieces are crisp tender. I’ll grill the flatbread just until it’s warm and spread it with hummus and top it with the grilled vegetables, a sprinkle of goat cheese, and a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic reduction. And we’ll have that green salad with shallot-lemon vinaigrette I’ve been craving all day. If I weren’t pregnant I’d open a bottle of bright, crisp Sauvignon Blanc and toast to the joy of our spring preview…as it is, I’ll make do with a bottle of Pellegrino and a twist of lime. 😉

I’m afraid we’ll be back to soups and stews for a few more weeks before spring is here for REAL but with a dinner like this to whet our appetite, I’ll spend those weeks poring through cookbooks for ideas to take advantage of the first spring harvests.

This entry was posted in All blog posts, Food, Recipes and tagged , , on by .