For the filling
Place the shelled hazelnuts on a baking sheet and roast in a preheated convection oven at 180 °C for 15 minutes. Let cool and then transfer to a plastic bag and roll the hazelnuts firmly until the skin falls off. Chop the hazelnuts and set to the side.
Separate the broccoli florets into larger sections and steam in well-salted water for about 15 minutes, until al dente. In the meantime, continue with the following preparation steps.
Peel the onions and cut off a cap (about one-fourth of each onion). Remove the caps. Use the melon baller to carefully scoop out each onion, leaving the outer two layers intact. Set these onions to the side until step 7.
If you don’t have a melon baller, you can use a small knife to carefully scoop out the onions.
Finely chop the contents of the onions and sauté in a skillet with olive oil until translucent. Increase the temperature briefly and add the brown sugar and stir until the onions caramelize. Set the skillet to the side.
For the onions
Cut off a thin slice from the bottom of the onions so that they can stand upright.
Bring the white wine and vegetable broth to a boil in a saucepan. Place the onions with their caps in the saucepan and simmer on low heat for about 25 minutes or until they are al dente.
Make sure that the onions are packed in close together in the saucepan so that they don’t tip over. The liquid shouldn’t come up higher than the middle of the onions.
Next steps and seasoning the filling
In the meantime, combine the finely chopped onions with the broccoli and then coarsely purée the mixture.
Finely grate the lemon peel using a kitchen grater and squeeze the lemons in a citrus juicer.
Add the lemon peel and juice, hazelnuts, and tarragon to the broccoli and onion mixture. Season with salt and pepper, and if the mixture is on the dry side, stir in a little olive oil.
Fill the prepared onions with the broccoli and onion mixture and serve the “Cebollas rellenas” while they are still warm.
Detailed Nutritional Information per Person for this Recipe
The majority of the nutritional information comes from the USDA (US Department of Agriculture). This means that the information for natural products is often incomplete or only given within broader categories, whereas in most cases products made from these have more complete information displayed.
If we take flaxseed, for example, the important essential amino acid ALA (omega-3) is only included in an overarching category whereas for flaxseed oil ALA is listed specifically. In time, we will be able to change this, but it will require a lot of work. An “i” appears behind ingredients that have been adjusted and an explanation appears when you hover over this symbol.
For Erb Muesli, the original calculations resulted in 48 % of the daily requirement of ALA — but with the correction, we see that the muesli actually covers >100 % of the necessary recommendation for the omega-3 fatty acid ALA. Our goal is to eventually be able to compare the nutritional value of our recipes with those that are used in conventional western lifestyles.
Stuffed onions with hazelnuts and broccoli are an excellent tapas and a perfect example of how vegan cuisine includes a bit of everything.
Hazelnuts: For this recipe, you can either buy shelled hazelnuts or you can shell them yourself.
Types of sugar: The original recipe calls for cane sugar, which is often confused with other types of sugar. Cane sugar is another name for household sugar and is obtained from sugarcane. It can be white or brown. In contrast, raw cane sugar and brown sugar are semiprocessed sugarcane products that contain some residual molasses. This is why they have a brown color.
Tips
Larger onions for this recipe: The author uses medium-size onions for this recipe. If you don’t have a melon baller or it is the first time you’ve made this recipe, it will be easier to scoop out the onions if they are larger.
Alternate preparation
A knife instead of a melon baller: Instead of a melon baller, you can also use a knife, but this does require that you have a steady hand.
Herbs and spices: If you like, you can also use additional herbs and adjust the amount of salt and pepper to meet your personal preferences, or even add a little Cayenne pepper.
