Channeling Julia

This week we're giving a party so we're featuring a variety of dipping sauces that we plan to serve.

Peanut sauce is widely used in the cuisines of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and China. It is also found in some European and Middle Eastern cuisines. Due to its creamy texture and zingy taste it makes a great accompaniment or dip for meats, fish and vegetables.

Peanuts were originally introduced to Indonesia from Mexico by Portuguese and Spanish merchants in the 16th century. The peanut plant thrived in the tropical environment of Southeast Asia and was quickly absorbed into regional cuisines. In Indonesia the sauce is incorporated into many signature dishes such as satay. It tends to be less sweet than the Thai version which is somewhat of a hybrid.

Our peanut sauce dip has the characteristic sweetness of the Thai version and is actually made from sunflower seeds rather than peanuts. This is due to danger of peanut allergies. It is estimated that 0.4-0.6% of the population is affected by peanut allergy and must avoid ingesting peanuts. The symptoms can include vomiting, diarrhea, hives, swelling, abdominal pain, eczema, asthma and even anaphylactic shock - a severe form of the allergy which necessitates an immediate trip to the emergency room and medical treatment with epinephrine. Scientists are currently working on developing an allergen free peanut but until then it is best to let your party guests know when peanuts are being served.

Not quite a dessert but almost as yummy - this dish is sweet and sour glazed onions

Although its origins are often attributed to the Hunan province of China, many places in China use a version of sweet and sour sauce as a dipping sauce or topping for fish and meat. In some regions of Eastern China raw fruits such as pineapple or pears and salad vegetables such as cucumber, tomato, bell pepper, and onions are served raw with vinegar and sugar. The sauces are traditionally made mixing honey or sugar with rice vinegar, soy sauce and spices.

Sweet and sour sauce is a staple of Chinese restaurants in North America and Europe where it's used as a cooking ingredient or as a pour over or dipping sauce for the meal. Even French cuisine has a version known as Aigre-douce where food is cooked immersed in the sauce. In the United States it is sometimes substituted for ketchup or used as a barbecue sauce.

A glaze in cooking is a translucent often sweet coating applied to food. Egg whites and icing are both used as glazes. Fruit is often an ingredient (we used raisins and tomatoes). We are probably most familiar with glazed donuts and pastries. If the glazing process is applied to vegetables they are are usually coarsely cut and "sweated" over low heat in a little oil or butter and stirred frequently until they are tender and translucent.

Most of us think of onions as an ingredient in dishes featuring other foods, but today we look at the use of onions as the main dish.

Sogan-dolma (Stuffed Onions) is an Imperial Ottoman dish that has become popular in North America. There are many variations on the basic dish, but most recipes call for a meat (spiced or smoked sausage is traditional), a contrasting vegetable (we used spinach), some kind of grain (bread crumbs or rice) and milk or cream. Many recipes local to the southern US call for Vidalia onions, though any onion of sufficient size is acceptable.

The Ottoman Empire was very food conscious. Cooks and cuisines from every part of the empire converged on the imperial palace in Istanbul, where over a thousand people were directly involved in food preparation and fed over ten thousand people a day. The results spread all over the empire, from Southern Russia to North Africa. Foods from the Balkans, Anatolia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East retain much of the influence of the Ottomans.

North America is such a melting pot of cultures and cuisines that we who live here tend to think that we invented "home cooking" without considering that all our ancestors came from somewhere else and brought their native cuisines with them.

Many of us here in San Francisco are used to seeing diced scallions floating in soups of Asian origin.

In the American heartland they are often used in salads and as garnishes.

These scallions have been grilled.

Scallions are also known as 'green onions" in North America, where the words "spring onion" and "shallot" are considered to refer to other species of onion. These words are ambiguous and most likely refer to the "Welsh Onion" - which actually came from Eastern Asia. "Welsh" has no relationship to Wales and is a corruption of an Old English Germanic word that means "foreign".

Since these names tend to be misleading, what we're talking about today has mature stalks between 1/4" and 1/2" in diameter that are white and solid at ground level but become hollow and green higher up - as opposed to immature bulb onions or leeks. The flavor is milder than that of bulb onions.

There are many varieties of onions - differing in color, size, taste, sugar content, pungency and emitted gases. It's mind boggling that so many different varieties are so closely related.

These are pearl onions cooked with green peas and prosciutto. Pearl onions are a "tree onion", which means that bulblets (instead of flowers) are grown in the flower head instead of ground level as with the bulb onions.

It can take about 2 years for the bulblets to sweeten. Pearl onions are sorted by size - onions of approximately 5/8" are often pickled in brine and used as cocktail onions. A pearl onion is the signature of the Gibson Martini.

Small pearl onions are considered more desirable by some and are most readily available in the frozen foods aisle of your supermarket. The largest pearl onions are sold in the fresh vegetable section of the market alongside shallots and garlic.

It's difficult to pin down an origin of this basic recipe - it seems to be very common in Mediterranean cooking. Both peas and onions have a very long history centering in the Middle East.