I’ve never had shallots (that I know of). I noticed them at the store and bought some to try.
I’m planning on making my mom’s famous beer stew today and thought I’d throw them in there whole, but I wonder if that would be a waste of my first shallot experience.
Maybe I should saute them with some mushrooms instead?
Please pardon my spelling :smack:
Shallots are basically just a small onion. Sort of a cross between onion and garlic. They can often be substituted for onions in your dish of choice. I would at least quarter them before tossing them in your stew. Sliced with mushrooms is good, and they’re excellent for infusing oil and in sauces.
When you buy shallots, don’t go for the large ones; they’re not ‘true’ shallots.
boy, what great timing! i was trying to remember their name just last night, and could only recall that it began with an “s”.
i have a question too. i’ve never really used shallots, and i’ve kind of passed on recipes that mention them as ingredients, simply because the directions tend to be the vague “add 1 shallot”.
what is “1 shallot” considered to be??? like regular onions, their size can vary spectacularly. adding a small onion instead of a large one could make a noticeable difference in the end result. i’ve seen qualifiers in recipies like “add 1/2 chopped onion (approximately 1/2 cup)”. so again, what is a good approximation of “1 shallot”?
Your average shallot is two tablespoons of mild oniony goodness.
ah! thank you kindly, Barbarian. you may well have expanded my culinary horizons.
False shallots? How would I be able to tell? The ones I chose from where all smallish, with a redish dry skin, and where sort of clumpy, like garlic is, but with only a couple of cloves. The store I bought them from is having a bit of market-share trouble due to the adjacent Wal-Yuck moving. I could charge in there shaking my little plastic bag… oh never mind.
**lachesis[b/] Sorry I can’t help you on that one. I’ve had the same problem getting recipies from family… “now add some thyme” “like how much?” “oh, you know, just some.”
I’ve found that shallots impart a more mellow onion flavor than onions.
In general, when something calls for a “whole shallot” it means all the lobes thata re found under the papery brown skin. An average shallot, as **Barbarian[/] points out, yields about 2 Tb when chopped fine. If you are buying large shallots, save a lobe for later. They keep as well as onions.
I grew a bunch of French shallots in my garden last season, and I still have a few dozen that I’m trying to use up before they wither away.
Shallots, as has been pointed out, are mild relatives of the onion, with a slight garlic overtone. They are particularly nice in chicken and fish dishes, and if you add a bit of fresh tarragon, you will have one of the “holy trinity” of cooking combinations.
Here’s a good one: Saute a few finely chopped shallots for just a minute in butter, just to soften. Scrape them out into a bowl and add a handful of finely chopped tarragon and a generous dollop of soft butter. Stuff this mixture under the skin of a cut-up chicken, salt and pepper the chicken, and broil it. Make sure to serve it with a chardonnay or white burgundy.
The sauteed shallot/tarragon combo is also good if you stir a little of the mixture into beaten eggs and make a simple fold-over omelette.
I’ve always meant to use shallots before, but never have. Although I did use leeks for the first time last night. I made some delicious potato-leek soup.
**pugluvr[b/] I’m not sure I understand your instructions. Would you come over and demonstrate? 
I cut some of the shallots up for the stew. They had an interesting chive smell to them.
Generally, a shallot that yields more than a few tablespoons of product is too large and will probably be bitter or more ‘oniony’. Sounds like the ones you chose are perfect.
I just finished the last of a marinated tortellini salad I bought at the grocery store, which substituted shallots for straight-up onions. They were diced, and gave the salad a nice bite but without the pungency you can get sometimes with raw onions. It was very nice in terms of both flavor and color, as the light purple was pretty against the pasta, if you’re into the visual aspects of food as well.
Mmmm, shallots. Would it be hijacking this thread too much to request shallot recipes? The only one I have is below, and I would love to have more.
Pasta with Chicken, Asparagus and Gorgonzola
1/2 lb. Fresh asparagus
1/2 lb. Linguine or spaghetti
1 or 2 Chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
1 ½ Tbs. Butter
1 tsp. Flour
3/4 Cup Half-and-half
2 oz. Gorgonzola cheese crumbles
2 Tbs. Shallots, minced
1/4 tsp. Red pepper flakes
Directions:
Cook the pasta al dente; drain and set aside. Trim and clean the asparagus, then trim into 1" pieces. Blanch the asparagus in boiling water; drain and set aside.
Melt the butter over medium heat. Add the chicken pieces and sauté until golden brown. Whisk in the flour, then the half-and-half, shallots and pepper flakes. Stir until thickened. Add the gorgonzola and stir until the cheese has melted. Add the pasta and asparagus and toss well. Serve with parmesan cheese and cracked black pepper.
Enjoy!
A steak sauce I improvised the other day:
First, cook your steak in a pan with a bit of olive oil, then
Shallots are excellent in curries. I’d abandon onions in almost all circumstances, if it wasn’t for the extra hassle shallots present.
[hijack] Why are shallots so much more expensive than their various oniony and garlicky relatives? I never see them at freestanding produce markets here, and rarely in the grocery store. And yet there are zillions of relatively straightforward, mainstream recipes that call for them.
Here’s anudder:
Oyster stew with caramelized shallots
Two refrigerated jars of fresh oysters
1 quart whole milk
6 medium shallots
butter
8 or 10 spinach leaves
Salt & pepper
Cayenne pepper
Peel the shallots, leaving them otherwise whole, and slowly stew them in butter over low heat, until they are softened and golden brown on the outside.
Heat the milk until just simmering, and add the oysters to it, cutting them with a kitchen scissors as they go in so that they are in bite-size pieces. Add all the juice from the oyster jars. Let the oysters simmer a couple of minutes until they plump up. Salt & pepper the stew, and add the caramelized shallots and the spinach leaves and a couple of flecks of cayenne. Serve with oyster crackers on the side, of course.
They’re not that much more expensive than onions when you consider the reduced quantity needed for any one purpose.
Shallots are great in egg recipes, like omelets or quiche. Just saute them in a little butter until they soften.
And a trick I learned from a chef–shallots are perfect in fresh salsa. Chop them fine and then put them in the microwave for a minute or so. This takes the “raw” out of them, but still leaves them fresh tasting. Mix them with your tomatoes, cilantro, vinegar, etc. to make salsa.