Always Put Onions on the Snack Board
A snack board, be it cheese or cold cuts, is never just cheese and / or cold cuts. For a truly balanced board, you need pickles, jam or honey, and other salty, crunchy and savory nuggets and nibbles to highlight and complement the main appeal. You will also need green onions.
As a child, my grandmother’s house had a “pickle bowl” for every special meal, and each pickle bowl contained several whole fresh onions. My grandmother dipped green onions in a small pile of iodized salt on her dinner plate to cut up the greasy, butter and creamy offerings that were often present at our holiday meals. I thought she was the only one who did it until I ordered a “drinking board” from a nearby Russian restaurant and discovered a whole shallot with a bunch of flaked salt! boiled eggs and various sausages. I was delighted.
The role of chives on the appetizer board is not much different from that of pickled onions – it’s just a more aggressive approach. Green spice revitalizes your palate, cuts through all of that richness, and prepares your mouth for your next meaty or cheesy bite. This will help you fully appreciate the cheese and meat, which are very valuable. You can also dip green onions directly into cream cheese before dipping them in salt, which creates a sort of deconstructed sour cream and onion moment. (Yes, I have a very good snack, and so does my grandmother.)
Whole onions do not require much preparation, just rinse them and peel off any nasty outer layers and trim off faded ends. Place it diagonally across the diner for a nice visual effect. Once you bite down on the roots – and you do – cut off the bitten end and save the roots for frying . They turn into lovely golden strands perfect for sprinkling on cheese spreads.