I can’t possibly be the only person who, upon arriving home at ten or eleven at night, decides that now is the perfect time to cook. Regardless of how long or arduous of a day it’s been, it is nice to move around a bit at night, and it’s particularly nice when that moving is not happening inside one of those godforsaken institutions with all those people on their hamster wheels (“the gym”). I prefer to do my hamster wheeling alone, thank you. Especially when it’s late at night.
And ten or eleven at night is the perfect time, really, to consider what to do with the pearl onion. Don’t you think? There’s really not so much one can do with them: In order to consume them one must first cook them, which means adding heat. This is not so complicated. So even if you’re a little foggy, on account of either working too long or cocktailing too pleasantly, there’s not so very much to be considered. And unless you are a masochist, there is no need to face the sharp objects in the kitchen. Pearl onions are also not very substantive, and who wants to eat a big meal late at night? So you roast them whole, peel a few with your asbestos fingers, smoosh them onto a piece of toast with some herbs, perhaps a bit of fresh cheese. Have a small glass of something nice. The rest you store, or continue slipping off their little skins until you feel relaxed. For the remainder of the week you can feel fancy when you put them on your salads and, if you’ve made enough, you can stir some into an earthy braise at week’s end. But now I’m daydreaming, and today is only Wednesday.
But it is good that pearl onions suit late nights in the week, because they’re not good for much else. As we already know, they’re not very substantive, have few uses, and peeling them is alternately fiddly and mind bogglingly dull. It’s the timing that makes them right. And the taste.
When roasted with those little papery skins still on, they singe and take on a smoky flavor, becoming very sweet as well. And they’re so cute! I have seen many a recipe for blanching and then peeling and then roasting or braising or whatever elseing. This is fine if it is how you like to do things, but a big pot of boiling water followed by soggy onions in need of undressing and then further cooking is generally unappealing to me. In any event, sweet onions cooked any way pair nicely against a smoky sausage which in turn gets along well the fennel seeds. Fresh rosemary at the end echoes the same at the beginning, a big bowl of starch is always comforting, dinner is done, and you are halfway through the week.
Orecchiette with roasted pearl onions, sausage + fennel
I recommend orecchiette here because I like it. The shape is perfect, though, for catching the little pearl onions in the sauce. For the sausage, you should get whatever you like, but a spicy Italian variety would be particularly fitting. One note on cooking pasta: The water really must be heavily salted. The saying is that it should taste like the ocean. This both helps flavor the pasta and keeps it from sticking, very important with a shape inclined to stack upon itself, as orecchiette are.
1 small bag pearl onions (usually 10 oz) | olive oil | 3 sausages links, casings removed | 2 big cloves garlic, smashed | 2 tsp fennel seeds | 1 pinch chile flakes, or more, to taste | 2 springs rosemary | 1 tbsp tomato paste | 1 big can tomatoes, preferably San Marzano | salt + pepper | 1 lb/500 g orecchiette | parmesan cheese
Heat the oven to 425 F/210 C. Don’t bother with peeling the onions, but do make sure there’s no excess papery stuff floating around, as that will singe too much and make your kitchen smell. Toss the onions with about 1 tbsp oil and dump onto a baking sheet. When the oven is hot, roast until quite soft, about 15-20 minutes. Then remove. Whenever they’re cool, slip off their skins with your fingers. This is easy but can be fiddly and is therefore best done while on the phone or engaged in some other pleasant activity, perhaps even the day or night before you would like to eat this.
On the day you would like to eat this, heat a dry skillet over medium heat for a couple of minutes. Crumble the sausage in and let cook, stirring from time to time, until all the pink is gone, say 10 minutes. Then remove to a plate lined with paper towels and let drain. Either wipe out this skillet or heat another over medium heat and add 1 tbsp olive oil. You can add the garlic immediately so that it heats up slowly with the pan and the oil. When it starts to sizzle, drop the fennel seeds, chile flakes, and 1 sprig of rosemary into the oil puddle. Let them sizzle for a couple of minutes. Add the tomato paste (This will sputter), and smoosh it in for about 30 seconds. Then add the tomatoes (This will sputter also.), season well with salt and pepper, add the cooked sausage, and bring to a simmer. Let cook, partially covered, for at least 20 minutes, though longer won’t do you any harm. Stir in the pearl onions for the last 10 minutes of cooking. Taste as you go along, and adjust seasoning as you like.
Cook the pasta in heavily salted boiling water until it is a couple minutes shy of done. While you are waiting, finely mince the rosemary leaves from the other sprig. When the pasta is ready, dip out some of the cooking water with a mug, then drain the rest, and add the pasta to the sauce. Stir to coat well, adding pasta water as needed. Serve in warmed shallow bowls, with generous pinches of the minced rosemary and lots of freshly grated cheese.
Serves at least 4