One way to eat (and enjoy!) salads the year round is to use ingredients that are not only compatible, but taste good together as well. One of our tricks is a quick blanching of fresh onions for the sweetest tasting onion ever. Come and take a look at How to Blanch Onions for the best salads you will ever eat!
As a young girl helping my mom in the kitchen making summer salads I noticed she always used spring onions for any raw onion called for in a salad. We always called them Scallions and they took a extra trip to the store if she didn't plan ahead on shopping day. They were fun for me to help with, small enough for little hands to peel the outer layer off and get them ready to slice thinly after a quick wash. I never actually asked why we used those onions, but Mom always said it was because they tasted the best. And who was I to question...?
Turns out the flavor of strong onions was not her favorite and honestly it is not mine either. Unfortunately I rarely have spring onions at the ready when I want to make up a salad to enjoy with our meal. And I am sure I have mentioned this before, but I try really hard not to make unnecessary trips to the grocery store, so I knew I needed a different solution to make our salads enjoyable.
Blanched onions are a must for this salad!
Then one day I was busy making up Mary's Potato Salad , when I cut the onion in half to begin dicing it, it was so strong it brought tears to my eyes. I knew if I put that diced onion in my salad that would be all the flavor that anyone tasted...to be honest out of desperation, I grabbed a pan of water and put it on to boil. And from that day forward, I continue to blanch diced onions for the sweet flavor they add along with a tender crunch. Come and take a look at How to Blanch Onions for the best salads you will ever eat!
Peel and dice the onion. For pasta and potato salads I like about 1/2 inch dice.
Bring a medium sized pan of water to a rolling boil, add all the diced onions at once, stir once and drain immediately!
Have a stainless steel colander in the sink ready to catch the diced onions, drain well and transfer to a small bowl, chill in the refrigerator until needed.
And that is it, no trips to the store and no over powering onion flavor to take over the rest of the salad.
You may also enjoy: 
#wholefoodingredients
#scratchmadefoodforyourfamily
This kitchen tip featured at:
Scratch Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household featured at Busy Monday Link-up and Blog Hop.
Thanks
for stopping by!
We
offer new and delicious recipes as well as DIY ideas for your home, regularly.
Feel free to drop us an email request for any question or recipe you may be
looking for. In addition, like all our guests, we invite you to come for a visit
again and again for new recipes, and my down-home take on frugal ways to keep
your home in tip top shape.
Hey
you, don’t miss a post! Please consider following Scratch Made Food! & DIY
Homemade Household. To follow by email, and/or by RSS feed, complete the
application located on the right-hand side of the blog. Please Note,
some posts may contain affiliate links, thank you for supporting Scratch
Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household.
PS,
friends, and family who love good food and household ideas might love us too!
Tell them about us, and thanks for the referral!
Scratch
Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household proudly shares with these generous link
parties featured here.
Judee from Gluten Free A-Z Blog: This is a great idea. I never saw a recipe to blanch the onions, but I will sure give it a try. Thanks Melynda
ReplyDeleteJudee, you are welcome. Raw onions don't always agree with me, and this is a nice solution.
DeleteI love tips like this! You have some great ideas!
ReplyDeleteLeslie, you are too kind, thank you!
Deletethis is a great idea but i actually like to do the very quick pickle method for onions in salads - i.e. slice up the red onions and soak them in lemon or lime juice with a bit of salt and sugar for 5 or 10 minutes. so delicious and you can add the juices to the salad.
ReplyDeleteSherry I like the vinegar treatment as well, I use my Quick Pickled Onions for those times. Thanks so much for stopping by, have a great week ahead.
DeleteI'm definitely going to try this! I hate raw onions for the very reason of the strong flavor that stays with you for days. I love cooked or grilled onions, and this looks like just the solution for anything calling for raw onions. Thanks for sharing. Visiting from Grammy's Grid Unlimited Link Party.
ReplyDeleteJennifer, onions are so delicious, but for some (like me...) raw onions can pose a challenge when digested. This simple step takes care of that, thanks for stopping by, I appreciate it!
DeleteOh, gosh, hubby and I both like the taste of raw onions, especially in salad. Our kids and grandbabies will not eat onions, they don't even buy them! I couldn't imagine not having onions in our home. Thanks so much for linking up at the #UnlimitedLinkParty 118. Pinned.
ReplyDeleteWe love onions in this house, but the raw ones, don't like me as much as I like them, so this little trick helps in that area. Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing at the What's for Dinner party - have a fabulous weekend and hope to see you again on Sunday!!
ReplyDeleteHelen, thank you for hosting and sharing my posts with your readers, I appreciate it!
Delete