Onion

Monkfish is perfect for this recipe because it doesn’t fall apart. It has a wonderfully tender and succulent texture similar to lobster, but monkfish is less expensive. This dish is also good with other types of fish and other kinds of seafood, such as scallops, shrimp, or lobster.

Up to a day before baking, Tortilla Melts can be assembled, wrapped in foil, and refrigerated. Bake in the foil for about 15 minutes and then remove the foil and bake for about 5 minutes more for the tortillas to crisp. Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to a week and reheat well.

Many of us think to eat creamed pearl onions only once or twice a year at holiday feasts. We thought it would be fun to turn the traditional side dish into a soup for any day of the week.

This thick, flavorful Southwestern soup comes together easily using pantry items.

Any rice is fine for this dish, but Lemongrass Rice (page 181) makes it particularly flavorful. We especially like this technique for cooking eggs for fried rice.

In this delicious omelet, we borrowed the taste of garlic, caraway, and coriander from harissa, the classic Tunisian seasoning. The omelet can also be cut into wedges and served as an appetizer or as part of a tapas or antipasto platter.

This golden pudding sends out a wonderfully appetizing aroma as it bakes. You can keep it unbaked in the refrigerator for up to a day—just allow for more baking time.

Serve this right out of the pan for a quick home-style meal. Warm, at room temperature, or straight from the fridge, this omelet also makes a great sandwich with mayonnaise and tomato. (See photo)

Black beans and rice with an interesting twist: fuchsia-colored pickled red onions. Make extra! They’re a flavorful condiment for sandwiches, soups, and salads, and they keep in the refrigerator for several weeks.

For a nice balance of color and flavor, use white potatoes and sweet potatoes in roughly equal amounts.

Here’s a simple supper to make in the chill of fall or winter, when the sweetness of the onions and the richness of the cheese is comforting.

Fresh summer herbs release an intense, splendid aroma when you stir them into hot oil. (See photo).

This recipe is one of our biggest sellers but, interestingly, each customer cites a different reason the sandwich is special. One says that she could eat the onion marmalade with a spoon for breakfast daily. Others can’t say enough about the bacon. Tom applauds Sisha’s decision to cut the turkey thicker, thus showcasing its moistness. This is an ensemble piece, with no clear headliner. While we use ciabatta, this sandwich would work as well on country bread, too.

This is one of Tom’s favorites, one that showcases how a sandwich can be adapted from a meal. The meal here is French onion soup. Whereas in the soup the onion is the star, with the crouton and cheese to support it, in the sandwich we flip that: the onions serve as the relish. We roast the onions very slowly, caramelizing them, until dark golden brown to balance the assertive and pungent Gruyère. With the rye bread to hint at the Alsatian origin of the soup, we end with something rustic and homey, and yet something that, unlike soup, can be enjoyed while walking down the street.

Here’s one for a party: Roast a large piece of beef and feed a big crowd. If your gathering is in the backyard, toss the onions in the marinade and grill them until they’re a little bit charred. But if you are cooking the onions indoors, roast them in a cast-iron skillet until they start to caramelize. The radish slaw—a mix of daikon and red radishes with a little bit of horseradish (a traditional condiment for roast beef)—contributes crunchy, spicy coolness. The mayo, though, is the genius of the sandwich. When you order a roast beef sandwich at a restaurant, you always hope it will come au jus—everyone loves to dip into those delicious flavors. Well, as ’wichcraft sandwiches are often eaten on the go, we let the beef rest after we roast it and then use the drippings in the mayo. You get the flavor of the dip without the drip (although, admittedly, this is still a three- or four-napkin sandwich).

The fried onions in this recipe are sliced very thin and coated with flour to make them crisp. We wanted them to be a bit tart, but the more customary buttermilk just didn’t take the onions where we wanted them to go. So we first soak the onions in vinegar, then flour and fry them; this way they have the acidity we were after. (Think salt-and-vinegar potato chips.) The radish salad adds some heat to the equation, balancing the ensemble.