These simple looking onions are one of my favorite side dishes and onion dishes. Onions, more often than not, always play the supporting role. It’s a huge supporting role, but nevertheless, they are never the star. Sure, we do have the odd onion soup exception or the grilled onions atop the burger, but even those do not count. They are there to make the burger shine. This dish, officially labeled “Michel Bras Stuffed Onions” is from Paula Wolfert’s “The Cooking of Southwest France“. This book is really a must have if you like French cooking, Western European cooking, duck, hearty stews or cooking in general. Just get it.
Very large onions are used to make this dish, because we need large onion “petals”. The onions are blanched and the onion layers separated. These are then stuffed with a mixture of swiss chard, bread, cured ham (like prosciutto or Serrano) and finely chopped duck liver, heart and gizzard. The onions are baked slowly with a little stock and a smear of creme fraiche.
