Hunny! Where did you get those fabulous pearls!?

A good southern girl always had a nice set of pearls, or so I’ve been told. I don’t. But I do have a great Creamed Pearl Onion recipe for you! I never had Creamed Pearl Onions until I was an adult, but I can imagine that my grandfather would have loved them. We didn’t grow a lot of onions in our garden, but grandpa devoted quite a few rows of his meager garden to the lovely ladies.  

When we would visit, he would get so excited showing us his gardening successes that he would grab hold of a bunch or two and rip them out of the ground and then start munching. I always assumed they were quite crunchy (read: gritty) and passed on the snack. His excitement was understandable. He lived on some of the sandiest land in our community, and if you could get anything to grow, it was time for celebration. My grandmother coaxed a few of her rose bushes to produce buds each year and she was about as proud of those roses as my grandfather was of his onions.

Grandpa would send us home with a few of the onions and my mom would simply wash them and serve them raw with our summer lunches.  They were quite sweet, with just a note of pungency. That’s why, when a friend of ours in NY made us Creamed Pearl Onions, I just knew they would be good, and they were.  This year my husband is making them as his addition to our Thanksgiving meal. We use the frozen onions, because peeling that many little fresh onions would make me postal, and who needs that at Thanksgiving? They simmer in butter for a bit to cook and then you make a béchamel sauce, with a little herb added and you are done! What could be easier?

Creamed Pearl Onions (Printable Recipe)

• 1 -14 ounce bag of frozen pearl onions
• 1 stick of butter (8 tablespoons)
• ½ cup AP flour
• 1½ cup milk
• ½ teaspoon fresh or frozen thyme
• 4 slices of bacon (optional)
• kosher salt
• Fresh ground black pepper

Melt the butter in a sauce pan on medium, add the onions and then simmer, covered, stirring occasionally until a knife can pierce through the larger of the onions (about 15-20 minutes). Remove the onions from the butter; stir the flour and the thyme into the butter until all lumps are gone. Then with a wisk in one hand and the milk in the other pour a steady stream of milk into the saucepan, wisking with the other to remove any lumps. When the milk is all incorporated, pour the onions back into the sauce, add salt and pepper to taste. Fry the bacon well and crumble. Stir into the onions at the last minute before serving.