Recipe: Sumac Onions

Sumac Onions.

Dominic Colose, who runs an excellent middle eastern restaurant in our
town, recently professed his love of sumac onions in a Facebook post. Research revealed that most sumac onion recipes use red onions and lots of parsley, but Dominic’s photo showed gleaming white slices with minimal adornment and that’s what we tried. The result was beyond excellent. Use as a condiment on your mezze platter as well as with hamburgers and just about any place you would use raw onion.

Ingredients:
1 medium onion (sweet Vidalia type)*
1 T ground sumac
¼ c finely chopped parsley
2 T fresh lemon juice
½ t Kosher salt

Method: peel the onion then slice in half lengthwise (stem to root) and slice each half into half-moon rings ¼ to ½ inch thick. You should end up with about 2 c. Mix in a glass bowl with all other ingredients and massage with your fingers so onion pieces absorb the spices. Allow to macerate an hour or so then taste for seasoning (we think the base seasoning is perfect). Will keep a couple of days in refrigerator; the second day is even better.

*If you use regular yellow onions with a harsh, eye-burning effect consider blanching them quickly before you proceed with the recipe.