How To Chop up an Onion and Sautee

How To Chop An Onion

(These are the onions that strawberry grower’s plant at the end rows of the strawberry’s.  They are called Strawberry Onions and are a sweeter variety that are popular in Florida around the Strawberry Festival.)

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First you need a sharp knife.  Without a sharp knife, slicing an onion will be more difficult and you could end up cutting yourself.  A sharp knife will slice the object more efficiently and not slip off during the cutting process, possibly slicing your finger.

Our Onion Bin

You can sharpen your knife with a sharpening stone or you can use a sharpening tool in which you will pass the blade through the device about three times.  Use your honing tool to hone the knife blade which will straighten the edge of the knife.  It is the long grooved rod which usually comes with a purchased set of good kitchen knives.  To use this, pass your knife’s blade edge across the grooves on one side then the other.  This will straighten out the blades thin edge which sometimes gets curled over during slicing.

Here is the Knife and the Honing Tool

Slide the edge of the knife blade along the honing tool 3 or 4 times on each side to straighten the edge of the knife.

Like Shown Above

Doing this will keep the knife blade sharp in between sharpenings.

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This is a Step-by-Step Tutorial in ‘How to Chop an Onion and Sautee’.

There is also a recipe below for you to try with the sauteed onion.

Cut off the top of the onion, then the bottom root section.

With the root facing up, slice the onion in half.

Peel off the outer brown layer of the onion’s skin.

With the onion root facing you…

place your fingers at a slight curl on top of the onion to guide the knife as you slide down.

Slice down the edge of the onion keeping the blade at a downward angle and DO NOT slice through the root end of the onion.  Doing this will keep the onion together.  The picture below shows the 1/4 inch which is not cut through.  Move your fingers a touch then slice down again.

Repeat the procedure all the way across the onion.

This is looking at the onion from the top.

From the top of the onion, hold the onion down and slice about 1/2 an inch toward the root, then repeat.

Turn the onion and slice down lengthwise heading toward the root end making small dice pieces.

Repeat…

Repeat…

Repeat!

Now, you have sliced an onion into small pieces.

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So the next time you need to chop an onion for a dish you will be cooking,

you already know how to from the ‘step-by-step’ instructions above.

These ingredients are for a squash casserole, the onion plays a very important role in the taste.

Using the technique from above, slice the onion. 

See if it looks like the pictures below!

When the onion is chopped, now it’s time to saute in about 2 Tbsp olive oil.

At a medium heat, add your onions and toss as the word saute means “To Flip”

Add some freshly ground pepper and saute the onions until they are almost translucent… about 6 min.

There now, you have graduated from being a novice to having chopped and sauteed your first onion.  You can now see how simple that it really is.  To continue with your new culinary skills, why not try making the following recipe?  Although the recipe below does call for onions, we didn’t dice them into small pieces, we cut them into half moons, but YOU can dice them all you like!

Enjoy!

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Squash Casserole

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The Ingredients For The Casserole

4 Zucchini Squash (sliced into rings)

7 Yellow Squash (sliced into rings)

3 Onions (sliced into half rings)

1 1/2 Cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese (1/4 Cup reserved)

3 Eggs Beaten

1/2 Cup Miracle Whip

3/4 Cup Seasoned Bread Crumbs

Salt and Pepper to taste

Chop both the Zucchini and Yellow Squash in 1/4 to 1/2 inches thick.

Slice your onions to 1/8 to 1/4 inches thick.

Place all in a large pot of salted water and until it just covers the vegetables.

Boil the vegetables until just tender about 10 min. 

Drain the vegetables in a large colander.

Here, you can see the squash is cooked and all in one piece which is exactly what you want.

Let the vegetable mixture cool.  In the mean time whisk your eggs, Miracle Whip, salt, pepper, then mix in the sharp cheddar cheese, being sure to reserve 1/4 Cup of cheese.

Place your cooled vegetables into your egg mixture and carefully combine together with a spoon.

Pour the mixture into a large baking dish which has been coated with olive oil. 

I use a spray to evenly coat the dish.

Spread your reserved Sharp Cheddar cheese and Seasoned Bread Crumbs over the top of the mixture.

Cook the squash casserole at 350’F for 25-30 min. or until it is golden brown and firm.

You need to let the casserole rest before cutting into it just as you would a meat. 

If you do, it will be firm when taken out as seen below and still be plenty hot.

I learned this recipe from Julie’s grandmother… she was a wonderful southern lady and we both miss her dearly.

I think she would be proud … not bad for a northern born raised southern guy!

XXX OOO Grandma Nell!