Was that really Red Onion???

Raw red onions are one of those flavors that you either love or hate. My mother LOVES raw red onion, she wants extra in her salad, meanwhile I pull them out of salads, salsas, and burgers on a regular basis. A little raw red onion is fine, but more than a little is so strong that for me it overpowers every other flavor in any dish that I eat. Nobody seems to have more of an aversion to red onion than Scott Conant of the renowned Scarpetta Restaurant in New York City. He is a regular judge on the show Chopped on the Food Network and God help the chef who unknowingly puts raw red onion in a dish and serves it to Conant who consistently throws a fit every time. I don't think that the taste of raw red onion deserves that type of a reaction however I do understand why raw red onion can be hard to "digest".

Tonight I went to Rock n Mexicana in Windham and asked Kyle the Chef of the restaurant (who is extremely talented and a welcome addition to the less than spectacular Mountaintop dining scene) to surprise me with something. He brought out a ceviche that consisted of shrimp, lobster, gooseberries, Italian blood orange, shaved yuca, cucumber and red onion...when I discussed the dish with Kyle (of which I was swooning) and tried to break down the ingredients I mistakenly thought the red onion was radish. The red onion didn't taste anything like the strong bitter taste that I'm used to having when I bite into raw red onion, it was subtle and complemented the rest of the ingredients perfectly. So Kyle swore it was red onion, and told me a chef secret (and yes I'm a sucker for chef secrets)...he soaks the red onion in ice water for 3 hours, it takes the bitterness out and gives it a crunchy but subtle flavor. WOW! that really changes the flavor and I love the end result. I make a mean avocado, tomato and red onion salad but sometimes I feel the onion is too strong. Stay tuned for my recipe on the avocado salad with this new found technique! Thank you Kyle as always for knowing my taste and for the tip.