Cipollini Onions started showing up in Italian restaurants in the 90s—usually roasted with balsamic vinegar and served with roasted meats. They’ve reached the mainstream now. You'll see them featured prominently in recipes on food sites and they're abundant in farmers' markets on this coast.
This year I started getting them in my CSA box. They’re naturals for roasting whole or halved because of their small size. They’re delicious and sweet when cooked, but too strong to eat raw. If they have a downside it’s that they are difficult to peel and so pungent that they’re hard on the eyes.
Last week I tried a recipe from a magazine involving pearl-size cipollni that had you blanch the onions then slice the root end off and squeeze the onion out of its skin.
The blanched onions are slippery and "trimming off the root" is harder than it sounds, but my eyes didn't water at all. I'm not sure that blanching is a faster way to prep the onions, but it's a different kind of fiddly, which some folks might prefer.
I was making pickled pearl onions (not cipollini) a few weeks back and found that blanching made it easier to peel about half of the onions. The other half was the usual rough going.
I LOVE this things! They're delicious when they are slowly carmelized. Roast them with garlic and its heaven.
Vanessa, I've been wanting to try that recipe for the cipollini tart. I printed it out months ago and have been waiting for the right time. I'm sure it's fantastic. I seriously love roasted cipollinis.
Glad you wrote about this because I've been wanting to try them... Seems like they'd be great thrown in with the balsamic roasted veggies I roast at least twice a month.
Definitely great for roasting, then pureeing with stock for whatever, with whatever, for whenever....But expensive.