Stuffed onions or onions stuffed with bonito. Asturian recipe

Stuffed onions are nowadays one of the best known dishes of Asturian cuisine and in particular of the village of L’Entregu .

Based on an original recipe from the La Laguna restaurant (according to many versions), little by little his fame spread throughout the town until today, when a gastronomic festival is held every year in his honor around 30 November in this town.

Its filling can vary, although the most common are minced meat or canned bonito . For this last modality I have opted to release this preparation on the blog. Don’t forget to buy bread, because the sauce, after a two-hour cook, is yummy.

And remember that if you like Asturian cuisine on the blog you can find a lot of recipes. In Asturias, you not only eat well, but also in abundance. In addition to being a natural paradise, it is accompanied by a great companion, its enviable gastronomy. I recommend these recipes to fall in love a little more with this green paradise.

Is there a ‘fame’? A few scallops with cabrales will  not disappoint you if you like meat, if you like the spoon, you can not miss trying their famous bean stew , its world famous clams with clams   or those spectacular verdinas , to open your mouth, you have their pregnant buns .

To end a gastronomic day that you will not forget, its desserts, the richest rice pudding that you have ever tasted or Pravia’s tocinillo de cielo . And of course a good coffee or infusion must be accompanied by some muscovites or some  Casadielles or Casadiella . There are a lot of recommendations that you should not miss trying in Asturias or at home, why not?

Preparation of the filling and onions

1. We start by preparing the filling. For this we crumble the bonito and mix it with the cooked eggs and the peppers, both chopped with a knife.
2. Mix in a container with four tablespoons of tomato sauce. We reserve.
3. Peel the onions. Then, to empty them, we cut the lid with a knife, which we will reserve, and then we empty the onion carefully.
4. If we do not have any specific tool, it can be done perfectly with a spoon. It is convenient to leave only two layers. We also reserve those pieces of onion that we remove from the interior.
5. We fill the onions completely with the farce prepared previously and place on top the lid that we cut initially.
6. We place in the fire in a pot of size adjusted to the amount of onions – it should not be bigger – enough extra virgin olive oil so that the onions are covered to approximately half their height and, when it is very hot, we introduce the stuffed onions.
7. Let the onions brown. Occasionally pour hot oil over the top with a spoon.
8. When they are already slightly golden, carefully turn them over without uncovering them so that they are also golden on top. The tighter the space is in the pot where we carry out this operation, the easier it will be.
9. When the onions are browned evenly, remove them to another container.

Cooking and final presentation of stuffed onions

1. We remove the excess oil and leave only enough to brown the onion remains that we have extracted. To do this, add the pieces together with the rolled garlic and leave over medium heat, stirring occasionally for about five minutes or until they have browned.
2. Add the flour and stir for one more minute without lowering the heat.
3. Add the cider, mix all the ingredients with a wooden spoon and when it is boiling, lower the heat. Add salt to taste and leave a minute.
4. We place the onions again in the pot and add the rest of the tomato sauce and water until almost covering the onions. We bring to a boil.
5. When it boils we lower the heat to a minimum and, with the lid slightly tilted, let it cook for two hours. Halfway through cooking we rectify the salt.
6. After that time the sauce will have been reduced to less than half.
7. Optionally we can remove the onions and pass the sauce through a mixer or similar to create a softer texture. I have preferred, on that occasion, to leave the pieces of onion whole, so that the sauce is more nuanced.
8. We serve accompanying the white rice onions and a generous portion of sauce.
9. The recipe admits multiple variations, as long as it is based on the long cooking of the onions. Instead of cider you can use a jet of white wine of almost any variety, even slightly sweet.

As an accompaniment, good cooked potatoes should also work well. Anything that helps you enjoy this sauce without taking the prominence out of the onions will be welcome. Take advantage!

Be sure to enjoy all the recipes for fish and seafood that we have on the blog.