Indespensible tips for cooking shallots

Shallots are the annoying (and fiddly) little brother of onions, and their cumbersome nature often gets them left out of recipes. But shallots have an unrivalled, delicate flavour that should be savoured, so we found the best tips to make preparing the little beggars that little bit easier.

1.

Peeling shallots can be made much easier if you let them steep in a bowl of recently boiled water for 10 minutes. Then the outer skin just rubs off.

2.

To reduce your eyes watering when chopping them, freeze them for five minutes beforehand. You must have a very sharp knife and a damp board. Cut them in half from root to tip, then place the shallot, cut side down, on the chopping board. Make horizontal cuts toward the root, leaving the root intact. Then cut crosswise into pieces of desired fineness.

3.

You can chop shallots much more finely than onions because the layers are thinner. Round shallots are fantastic to use whole. Just throw them in to stews, with other roast vegetables to get a delicious sweet veg accompaniment that subtly takes on the flavour of the other ingredients.

Try this great Shalott recipie here

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