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How sweet it is

Roasted and slightly caramelized, onions are good enough to eat on their own.

Some cooks go into the kitchen and put a big pot of water over high heat, on the theory that if you're cooking for a couple of hours, at some point you'll need boiling water. We do that. But we also put a tray of cut-up onions in to roast. Same theory: You'll need them later, so get them in early. The kinds of onions in the baking dish are anything we have on hand. Often there are one or two red onions and at least a couple of Spanish onions, and once the sweet onions come into the markets - the Vidalias and Ososweets - they go in as well. There are always several cloves of garlic.

Roasting caramelizes the onions slightly, and the best part is the burned tips of the pieces. So after the onions are cooked through under a steamy tent of foil, we jack up the oven temperature to toast the cut sides. Some of the onions end up as the basis for a pot of soup. They can also become the moist ingredient that holds a stuffing together, or they can flavor a ground-meat mixture like meat loaf. If a couple of days go by (the onions will keep in the fridge for a week), we dust the top with bread crumbs mixed with olives and fresh herbs, bake the onions a little longer, and serve them as a side dish.

ROASTED ONIONS

6 onions, peeled and quartered
1/2 head of garlic, separated into cloves
1/2 cup chicken stock
Olive oil (for drizzling)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Set the oven at 375 degrees. In a large baking dish, arrange the onions as tightly as possible. Scatter them with the unpeeled garlic cloves. Add the chicken stock at the sides of the dish. Drizzle the onions with oil and sprinkle them with salt and pepper.

Cover the dish with foil, shiny side down, and transfer to the hot oven. Roast the onions for 45 minutes.

(Note: If making the onions in advance, stop here.)

Increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees.

Lift off the foil and continue roasting the onions for 30 minutes or until they are tender.

Remove them from the oven and let them cool completely. Serve as a side dish or use as directed.

MAKES 6

TURKEY MEAT LOAF WITH POTATOES

Roasted onions and garlic flavor the ground turkey for this meat loaf, which is mixed with a light tomato sauce and then baked in the sauce. Partway through cooking, potatoes are set around the edge of the meat to turn crusty and golden as the loaf finishes.

Tomato sauce:

1 can (14 to 16 ounces) imported whole tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons cider vinegar

In a bowl, snip the tomatoes with kitchen shears or crush them with your hands.

In a skillet, heat the oil and, when it is hot, add the tomatoes and cook them, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes. Remove them from the heat and add salt, pepper, mustard, brown sugar, and vinegar. Let the tomatoes cool.

Meat loaf and potatoes:

Vegetable oil (for the dish)
3 large Yukon Gold or Yellow Finn potatoes
2 roasted onions (see recipe)
2 roasted garlic cloves (from onions), peeled
2 pounds ground turkey
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup dry white bread crumbs
Pinch of ground allspice
Salt and pepper, to taste

Set the oven at 400 degrees. Have on hand a 9-by-13-inch baking dish or another dish about the same size. Oil the dish lightly.

Halve the potatoes and steam them in a covered pan for 20 minutes or until they are just done. Cut them into thick slices and set them aside.

Chop the onions and garlic until they are coarse. Transfer them to a large mixing bowl.

With your hands, work in the turkey, then half the tomato sauce and the eggs. Add the bread crumbs, allspice, salt, and pepper.

In the baking dish, shape the meat loaf into a flat oval and pour the tomato sauce over it. Transfer to the hot oven. After the meat loaf has cooked for 20 minutes, add the potatoes around the edges of the dish. Bake the meat loaf for 50 to 60 minutes (total cooking time) or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the loaf registers 160 degrees.

When the meat loaf is cooked, the potatoes will be golden at the edges.

Remove the meat loaf and potatoes from the oven and serve.

SERVES 6

FRENCH ONION SOUP

2 tablespoons butter
6 roasted onions (see recipe), chopped
2 roasted garlic cloves (from onions), peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup port
1 cup red wine
8 cups beef stock
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
4 slices day-old French baguette, toasted
3/4 cup grated Gruyere cheese

In a large flameproof casserole, melt the butter and cook the onions and garlic over medium heat, stirring often, for 10 minutes. Sprinkle them with sugar, salt, and pepper. Continue cooking for 10 minutes more.

Pour in the port and let it bubble up. With the heat on medium, continue cooking until all but 2 tablespoons of the port has evaporated.

Pour in the wine, increase the heat, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking until all but 1/4 cup of the liquids have evaporated.

Add the beef stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the soup, partially covered, for 45 minutes. Stir in the thyme.

Arrange the French bread on a rimmed baking sheet and sprinkle the slices with cheese. Broil the toasts (or use a toaster oven) until the cheese melts. Watch carefully, because they burn easily. Ladle the soup into bowls. Top each with a cheese toast and serve at once.

SERVES 4

STUFFED FLOUNDER

10 round, buttery crackers (such as Ritz)
1 roasted onion (see recipe above)
1 roasted garlic clove (from onions), peeled
1 cup fresh parsley leaves
Salt and pepper, to taste
3 zucchini, thinly sliced on the diagonal
8 skinless flounder fillets
Olive oil (for sprinkling)

Set the oven at 400 degrees. Have on hand a 10-inch baking dish. Lightly butter the dish.

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade, work the crackers in on-off motions to make crumbs. Transfer the crumbs to a plate. Without rinsing the processor, work the onion, garlic, and parsley until they are finely chopped. Return the crumbs to the processor and add salt and pepper. Work the mixture just until it comes together.

Arrange half the zucchini, overlapping the slices in the baking dish.

To prepare the fish fillets, set them on the counter skinned side up (the skinned sides are the darker sides). Divide the cracker-crumb stuffing into eighths. Form it into rolls about 2 inches long - or almost as wide as the fillets.

Place the stuffing on the narrow ends of the fillets, leaving the tips empty to make rolling easy. Roll up each fillet and set the rolls in the baking dish, seams down.

Tuck any stuffing that falls out back into the rolls at the sides. Sprinkle the fish with salt and pepper. Cover the fish with the remaining zucchini, making overlapping rows. Sprinkle the zucchini with oil, salt, and pepper.

Transfer the fish to the hot oven and bake it for 25 minutes or until the fish is cooked through and the zucchini are golden at the edges. Serve at once, spooning the zucchini slices and the juices in the pan on each plate beside the fish rolls.

SERVES 4