Saute the Onions in the Air for the Perfect Side Dish
Onions are theft. They are flavorful, versatile, and cheap. You can usually buy a bunch for less than a dollar, they have a very long shelf life, and you can grow more green onions from the trimmings. I love them raw (try salting them with full-bodied cream cheese), but currently I overwhelm me with air-fried green onions.
Besides smelling like warmth and onions in my house, air-fried onions add a deep flavor to whatever you throw them. This is my favorite thing for semi-used shallots, which are mostly pale green and white. You know, these little patchwork guys that look like this:
I rub some cold fat into the bacon along the entire length of each shallots (you can also toss them in the olive oil), then toss them in the deep fryer basket for 5-7 minutes, depending on how thick they are. (I usually start checking after two minutes and shake them lightly.) You can also cook whole onions, but you need to cut them in half for two reasons: depending on the size of the fryer, they may not work well if stored whole, but I mostly separate deeper green from paler because the deeper green part turns brown much faster than the rest of the shallots. If your deep fat fryer is set at 400 ℉, the green portion will fade in about two minutes; the color will intensify and you will begin to see several brown spots. After four minutes, the green portions will begin to crunch heavily. After six minutes, the pale green and white parts will soften and begin to char.
I love to chop up crispy green slices and mix them in the gravy, or mix them with a little cream cheese to make a fried cream cheese with onions. The lighter ends are fine on their own, as a side dish or garnish, but they’re pretty good for sandwiches, wrappers, and tacos.
If you want to bake the whole bunch, the oven makes more sense, but it will take much longer (at least 30 minutes longer if you turn on the preheat). The availability of fried shallots means you don’t have to use the entire baking sheet – you can sauté a couple, several, or one onion in less than 10 minutes and then repeat if necessary. On average, I eat about three fried onions a day, one for each meal.