Welcome to a new feature on ErinCooks.com in which I’ll attempt to answer “burning questions” posed to me by honest to goodness real people with actual food related concerns. Need some advice? You can always Ask Erin Cooks.

Dear ErinCooks: The onion has long been my sworn enemy. I know it adds flavor and whatever to dishes but onions disagree with me so I avoided them. Since I stopped eating Smartfood Popcorn and cereal as meals, became a vegan and started cooking proper food for myself I decided it was time to make my peace with the onion. My body definitely rebelled when I started feeding it vegetables and fruits, but it adjusted and so I started actually adding onions to things when called for and now they don’t bother me. Well, not exactly and that brings me to my onion related questions:

1. I hate handling onions because the smell lingers on my hands and repulses me. Why in the age of convenience food, when you can buy precut everything, can’t I find precut onions? Do they not keep in the cut state? Do they exist and I just can’t find them? Is this the dumbest question you’ve ever heard?

2. If I do indeed have to handle onions, how do I get rid of the smell? Someone told me you can rub lemon on your hands, but then my hands just smell like onions and lemons.

Help me, ErinCooks. You’re my only hope.
– Anna D

Dear Anna D: This is your lucky day because you can actually buy pre-cut onions (I’ve definitely seen them at Whole Foods). You can also purchase frozen onions but if you tell anyone that you’re doing that they will mercilessly ridicule you (i.e. I will point and laugh). Or you can pre-chop and freeze them yourself for future use. If you do buy pre-cut onions just keep in mind that you’re going to be paying at least twice as much for them.

As for your concern about the onion smell staying on your hands, I’ve never really noticed this with onions. I am however horrified on a daily basis by the smell of garlic on my hands. I’ve woken up many nights in bed completely disgusted by the smell emanating from my hands after having chopped up garlic for a dish. For that reason, I try to touch the garlic as little as possible and wash my hands with a lemon based soap immediately after dropping the smelly stuff into whatever concoction I’m making. Lately I’ve been using a peppermint soap from Williams-Sonoma and that seems to do the trick as well. I think the key is to wash your hands as soon as humanly possible after you come in contact with the ingredient you dislike, and if you still really can’t stand it you could always invest in a package of latex gloves.

I also wonder if you might like using shallots better than onions? In fact, people like Anthony Bourdain recommend that you use shallots instead of onions. Apparently it’s one of the things that make restaurant food taste so great, and why we can never duplicate the flavors at home (you know besides the gallons of cream, oil, and butter of course). Or you could buy one of those Vidalia Chop Wizards. I’ve never used one personally, but they seem to have really good reviews online.

When the leaves begin to fall and it’s dreary, dark, and damp outside sometimes we need a truly comforting meal to bring our thoughts and minds out of the impending winter doldrums. Ellie Krieger’s simplistic Sage Rubbed Pork Chops with Apple Slaw requires minimal kitchen efforts especially if you take advantage of the sacks of pre-shredded Cole Slaw readily available in your grocery store. Not that shredding cabbage is particularly difficult, but after sloshing home from a long day at the office in the rain any steps I can streamline in the dinner making process are generally appreciated. Plus, the smell of sage cooking creates such a calming space that you might just want to trade in that evening glass of Pinot Grigio for a tender and juicy pork chop instead. Now don’t get hostile…it was just a suggestion!

Season	Slice
Cut a Few Corners	Brown
Rest	Soften
Add the Slaw	Bury the Pork
Warm	Warm Up & Cheer Up

Sage Rubbed Pork Chops with Warm Apple Slaw (Originally published by Ellie Krieger)

NOTE: To make this quicker and easier you can use one 16-ounce bag of pre-shredded carrots and cabbage, called “Slaw Mix” instead of starting with whole cabbage and carrots. This dish can also be a one-pot-meal if you need to swap around. Just serve with some nice brown bread or whole-grain or whole-wheat bread.

4 teaspoons chopped fresh sage or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried
1 large clove garlic, minced (about 1 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon salt, divided
Freshly ground black pepper
4 (3/4-inch) bone-in pork loin chops (about 8 ounces each)
1 large onion
1 large Granny Smith apple, cut in 1/2, cored
1/2 head green cabbage, cored
3 large carrots
4 teaspoons olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth

Combine the 3 teaspoons of the fresh sage or 1 teaspoon dried, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a few grinds of fresh pepper. Rub this mixture all over the pork chops and let the chops sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, thinly slice the onion, apple and cabbage and julienne the carrots (very thin sticks).Heat 1 teaspoon of the oil in a large nonstick frying pan until hot but not smoking. Add the chops and brown on both sides, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Remove.

Carefully wipe out the pan. Heat the remaining teaspoon oil over moderate heat and add the onion, apples and remaining teaspoon fresh sage or 1/2 teaspoon dried. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is soft and golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the cabbage, carrots, vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon salt and continue cooking until the cabbage and carrots begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the broth and return the pork chops to the pan burying them in the vegetable mixture. Cover and cook just until the pork chops are just slightly blush in the center, 5 to 7 minutes longer.

To serve, arrange the warm slaw on individual plates and top with a pork chop and pan juices.

My original intention for the ham steak I purchased on a whim from Trader Joes was to make the Barefoot Contessa’s Parker’s Split Pea Soup, but as it’s bordered on 80 plus degrees in our top floor apartment for the last 10 days (when I didn’t break down and turn on the central air) I made an executive decision to nix the pea soup and return back to it at a later date…like in a the Fall and maybe paired with a homemade apple pie.

In the meantime though I had a ham steak taking up space in the fridge. I consulted my mom and she suggested making a scalloped potato dish and incorporating the ham. Well heat or no heat, any casserole made with potatoes, cheese, and ham is a keeper in my book so I hurried home and started slicing and dicing. The recipe I opted to use involved making a basic white sauce, layering the potatoes, cheese, ham, and onions, and finally baking it in the oven. I would suggest upping the temperature of the oven to 400 degrees as my potatoes weren’t even close to being done after baking for 60 minutes at 350. Of course that may be because I chose to dice them as opposed to slicing. If only I had one of these gadgets I might have enjoyed the ooey, gooey, comforting goodness sooner.

Dice	Grate
Slice	Melt
Whisk	Simmer
Saute	Layer
Bake	Potato-licious

Asparagus is my favorite vegetable so I jumped at the chance to try the Asparagus Parsley Pesto Risotto Bake featured in the April issue of Rachael Ray’s magazine. Admittedly, I was a little freaked out by the whole “risotto bake” part of the title. I wasn’t entirely sure if it was going to work, but my curiosity at testing out the baking capabilities of my new Target Chefmate Dutch Oven won out over my apprehensions. Not to mention, that as much as I love risotto, it can be a bit labor intensive stirring a hot pot of rice continuously for 20-30 minutes. In fact, I’ve been known to read a book in order to combat culinary boredom during that step.

Anyway, the dish ended up having a decidedly “Spring-like” feel, taste, and look and I really loved that the asparagus stayed crisp and turned a gorgeous shade of green after its brief baking time. Unfortunately, the first evening that I ate it I really wasn’t happy with the outcome. I felt that something was missing, but then I ate leftovers of the dish on two consecutive days and it was 3000 times better. In fact, I would actually go so far as to categorize it as delicious! Upon sitting overnight the lemon and parsley pesto really had a chance to flavor the dish to a whole new level that just wasn’t there during the initial serving. To remedy this issue, next time I plan to bake the Arborio rice completely in chicken stock (substituting extra stock for water) and also adding lemon juice, white wine, and extra zest to the dish as well. Practice makes perfect…

Onions Again	Toasty Rice
Add the Stock	Parsley, Pine Nuts, Parmesan, and Lemon
Add Cheese & Asparagus, Bake Again	Spring Has Sprung

I find it fascinating that as much as I hate cutting and working with raw chicken breasts, I really enjoy making meatballs. Probably because it’s the one time that I actually enjoy getting messy and I have lots of good childhood memories of making meatballs with my mom. Although, since she dislikes touching raw meat as much as I do, I’m sure she was simply grateful that I was naive enough to think that rolling out all of those little balls was fun.  Anyway, I made Rachael Ray’s Double Chicken Dumpling Soup the other day. Sorry Rachael I refuse to use the term “stoup” — although I’m sure it will end up in the dictionary eventually. Fortunately, as odd as I sometimes find Rachael’s terminology, I truly loved the flavor of the nutmeg and Parmesan spiced chicken meatballs, especially when combined with one of my absolute favorite things in the whole world - potato gnocchi.  I’m a total sucker for a hearty soup so this will definitely make an appearance on my dinner table again.

Eat the Rainbow	Get Messy!
Simmer	Meatballs First

I’m starting to wonder if I should change the tag line of this website to Erin Cooks:  An Ellie Krieger Retrospective.   What do you think?  Anyway, here’s another yummy option to wow your friends with:   Fettuccini with Creamy Red Pepper-Feta Sauce.  I couldn’t find whole wheat fettuccini so I used linguine.  My one quibble with this recipe is the use of parsley.  Next time I plan to use chopped basil as a garnish since I found the parsley to be a little bitter.

Onions, Peppers & Garlic	Blitz
Whole Wheat Goodness	Who Needs the Olive Garden?  Not Me!