TIP OF THE DAY: Bagel & Chives
| Often bagels are served with a slice of onion. But raw onion can be too sharp for some people, especially first thing in the morning.
If you want just a bit of onion flavor, you can mince the onion and sprinkle just a bit on your bagel. Or you can substitute chives, the smallest and most delicate-flavored member of the onion family. Native to Asia, it was purportedly brought to the West by Marco Polo, and has been cultivated in Europe since the Middle Ages. Chives are one of the “fines herbes” of French cuisine, which also include chervil, parsley and tarragon. Most chives have lovely lavender flowers (others are white), which are also edible. Chives lose their flavor when cooked for an extensive period of time, so they are primarily used in quick-cooked foods (scrambled eggs, for example) or as a garnish. In addition to eggs, chives are a popular garnish for fish, potatoes, soups and finely chopped as a plate garnish. We chop them very finely and scatter them on dinner plates as a garnish, or place a whole chive across a piece of fish or meat (if they’re in flower, so much the better!).
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Instead of onion, pass a bowl of chopped |
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Chives don’t dry well so you won’t find chives on the spice shelf; but they can be frozen. They are easy to grow outdoors or in a windowsill pot for year-round fresh chives.
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