There are lots of ways to serve onions, but for a treat I like to serve Grilled Parmesan Onions. You can do this in the oven too, but they’re great on the grill. The addition of a lick of smoke makes this vegetable taste incredible.
Start with sizable onions (preferably Vidalia, or at least sweet onion). Cut off both ends and peel the onion without cutting in half. Take a pairing knife and cut a gouged out top hat or lid, like you would when carving the top of a pumpkin. Go as deep as you can so you can put your ingredients towards the middle of the onion. Push a chicken (or beef) bouillon cube as far down into the onion as you can. Sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese down in the onion on top of the bouillon cube. Then pack to the top with butter. Sprinkle with more Parmesan cheese. Place top of onion back in place and press to secure. It won’t fit perfectly with all the goodies you have in there, and boy will that be worth it. Next, wrap each onion tightly in aluminum foil and grill for 45 minutes to an hour (depending on the size of the onions). Then just unwrap and eat; no need to do another thing to these.
If you’re grilling over live fire or charcoal try adding an additional layer of foil wrap and then place the onion DIRECTLY ON THE COALS! This makes for quite a show with guests and it shortens the cooking time quite a bit.
As I said, this can also be done just exactly like this in the oven. Or, another variation to feed a crowd is to take several onions, cut them into chunks and place in a baking dish. Crush 3 or 4 bouillon cubes of your choice and sprinkle over the onions. Cut up a stick of butter into slices. Top the onions with grated Parmesan cheese and spread the butter around in the dish. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
Serve hot and enjoy!
