Roasted Sweet Onions with Couscous and Veggies {a tribute to Charlie Trotter}

Roasted Sweet Onions with Couscous and Veggies {a tribute to Charlie Trotter}

A few years ago, my favorite chef passed away. Charlie Trotter.

On November 5, 2013 I posted this on Facebook, “I’m saddened to hear that my favorite chef, Charlie Trotter, has passed away. I have eaten in his restaurant and I even had the pleasure of meeting him. He was a sweet and kind person. I will miss his passion, his recipes, and the awesome food that he brought to the world. He was a pioneer of elevating vegetables, and bringing them off of the side dish and to the main dish. Thank you, Charlie Trotter.”

At that time I decided I was going to make one of his recipes and post it as a tribute to him. I pulled out all of his cookbooks, and started leafing through them, marking those recipes I thought would be great to share. The recipe I finally choose came from his amazing book, Charlie Trotter’s Vegetables, which also happens to be the first cookbook I ever got from him. Maybe I was too saddened by his loss, which still seems like such a shock to me. He was so young and so amazing. Well, here I am, about 3 years later finally able to post this for him!

I think he was one of the reasons I was able to be a vegetarian all those years ago. It wasn’t simply some hippy fad anymore if an amazing chef was willing to do veggies the justice they deserve. Ahhh, the veggie – so beautiful and so amazing – but you already know I feel that way! So many colors, so many textures, so many flavors.

Charlie Trotter used amazing fresh veggies that home cooks can’t always get their hands on, so I switched up some from the original recipe, and tried to give suggestions for substitutions where possible.

I also think that simply reading Charlie Trotter’s cookbooks was a lesson in cooking techniques and in cooking creatively. He used cooking terms that many people don’t use any longer. I love these terms. I love the time and thoughtfulness of the way his recipes are written. Cooking was an art to him. The veggie wasn’t simply a green piece of food, it was something to be elevated to a piece of beauty and something to be savored.

When onions are roasted their natural sugars begin to caramelize and they become sweet and succulent. Grab whatever sweet onions you can find; of course Vidalia or Walla Walla will be fabulous, but simply sweet yellow onions will be great as well in this Roasted Sweet Onions with Couscous and Veggies dish.

For the French Green Beans or Haricoverts, these are basically long skinny green beans, and regular ones can be used instead. The French ones are a bit different, so they have a little lighter texture (less squeaky). And, even my husband, who doesn’t typically care for green beans, thought the French Green Beans were good.

The original recipe instructions say that the veggies (green beans, asparagus, and snow peas) should be blanched, which simply means quickly boiling the veggies and then tossing them in cold water to stop the cooking (shocking the veggies). For ease, and since the oven was already on, I decided to roast my veggies. I simply tossed them in a cast iron skillet with a little oil and salt, and roasted them for about 10-15 minutes. Use whichever method you prefer.

These Roasted Sweet Onions with Couscous and Veggies will be a great vegetarian main course or a lovely side dish for a meatier meal.

I will dearly miss the beautiful work that Charlie Trotter brought to the world. But, at least I had the opportunity to eat at his restaurant, to meet him, and I’ll cherish his cookbooks. Thank you, Charlie Trotter.

Roasted Sweet Onions with Couscous and Veggies Recipe

Roasted Sweet Onions with Couscous and Veggies {a tribute to Charlie Trotter}

Debi

5 from 1 vote

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Servings 4

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 4 large sweet onions peeled and tops and root ends cut off
• Salt & Pepper
• ¾ cup French Green Beans Haricoverts, cleaned and cooked
• ¾ cup asparagus cooked
• ¾ cup sugar snap peas cleaned and cooked
• 3 cups cooked whole wheat couscous
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons sprouts or chopped fresh herbs

Instructions

 

• Place the onions in a large ovenproof pan, cover halfway with water, and bake at 375° F for 1 ½ hours (90 minutes). Carefully remove the pan from the oven, and check the water level, adding more water as necessary to make it reach half way up the onions. Using tongs, turn the onions upside down, place back in the oven, and continue to roast for an additional 1 ½ hours (90 minutes), or until very tender. Remove the onions from the liquid (saving the onion broth for another use), and cool the onions completely. Once cool, remove and discard the outer layer of the onion. Using your finger, gently remove the inner rings of the onion, leaving two or three outer rings intact. Place the inner portion of the onion in blender and puree until smooth. Pass the puree through a fine-mesh sieve or strainer, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Cut half of the green beans into quarters. Cut the asparagus into 1-2 inch pieces. Fold the quartered green beans, half of the asparagus, and half of the peas into the couscous. Fill each onion with some of the couscous mixture, spoon the olive oil along the outside of the onion, and bake at 350 ° F for 5 minutes, or until hot.
• Place the onion puree in a small pan, and warm over medium heat.
• Quickly sauté the remaining green beans, asparagus, and peas in 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat for 2 minutes, or until hot.
• Assemble the Stuffed onions: Spoon some of the onion puree in the center of each plate. Place some of the hot vegetables in the center of the puree, and place the whole onion, mouth up, on top of the vegetables. Sprinkle sprouts or chopped fresh herbs over the top of the onions, and spoon some additional onion puree around the plate. Serve immediately.

Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations, and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.

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