Kathy’s Greek Stuffed Onions with White Sauce Recipe
Onions delicately filled with a herby, meaty-rice filling and baked in a creamy white sauce.
Kathy’s recipe for Stuffed Onions with White Sauce represents the ongoing evolution of the Greek cuisine, which mirrors the journeys and influences of its makers. Kathy used her mother-in-law’s stuffed onion recipe as the base for this dish and heightened it with the addition of ground pimento and cinnamon in the meat filling. Rather than baking the onions in a traditional tomato-based sauce, she married the spiced stuffed onions with a lovely white sauce. This really is a special adaptation of a Greek classic!
We essentially halved Kathy’s original recipe, but tweaked the spice and white sauce quantities to achieve a good balance of aromas and creaminess.
Ingredients
- For theStuffed Onions you will need…
- Water
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 large brown onions
- 1 medium brown onion, grated
- ¼ cup EVOO
- 375 g beef mince
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- ½ tsp allspice/pimento, ground
- ¼ tsp cinnamon, ground
- ½ bunch flat leaf parsley, chopped
- 1 large or 2 small tomatoes, grated
- ½ cup medium grain rice
- For the white sauce you will need…
- 25 g butter
- 25 g plain flour
- 550 ml milk, warmed
- Pinch of salt
- Pinch grated nutmeg
- Squeeze of lemon juice
Method
- Preparing the onions
- Bring a large pot of water to the boil and add 1 teaspoon of the salt
- Remove the skin from the 4 large brown onions and score them from top-to-bottom on one side of the onion
- Transfer the onions to a the pot and gently boil for about 30 minutes, until just cooked
- Remove from the heat, take the onions out of the water with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool
- Keep ¾ of a cup of the onion water/stock
- Preparing the filling
- On medium heat sauté the grated onion with the EVOO
- Add the pimento and cinnamon and cook briefly to release the aromas
- Add the meat and gently brown it
- Add the salt, pepper and parsley and mix through
- Add the grated tomatoes, rice and reserved onion stock
- Cook until all the liquid has been absorbed
- Take off heat
- Using the score mark on the onions as a guide cut the onions from top to bottom, through to the centre
- Discard the outer onion layer
- Carefully remove an onion layer
- Cradle the onion layer gently in the palm of your hand and fill with 1-2 heaped teaspoons of the meat mixture
- Tightly roll up the filled onion layer to form a "quenelle" and place in a baking dish
- Continue filling and rolling onion layers this way
- Preheat the oven to 160°C fan-forced
- Preparing the white sauce
- Melt the butter in a medium pot over medium heat
- Add the flour and combine with the butter
- Cook until the rue begins to bubble
- Add in the milk and continue to heat and stir until the sauce begins to bubble
- Continue heating and stirring for1-2 minutes more
- Add a pinch of salt and nutmeg
- Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice (we forgot to do this)
- Pour the white sauce over the stuffed onions
- Baking the Stuffed Onions with White Sauce
- Bake for approximately 45 minutes in an oven preheated to 160°C fan-forced
- Serving the Stuffed Onions withWhite Sauce
- Enjoy the stuffed onions as part of a comforting lunch or dinner Kali Orexi!