Roast onion dip for proper baguettes

I change my mind about growing onions and take a trip to Worksop to learn about real French baking.

There’s a kind of alchemy that happens when you roast alliums

Somehow, magically, their eye-watering crunch and astringent, milky sap, which seems to me unpromising at best, is transformed into deep, flavoursome comfort. Both sweet and savoury at once, a roast onion is heavy-duty flavour: caramel chew meets gutsy scorch. Yes, onions have hidden depth.

I took on an allotment earlier this year

Or as the tenancy agreement rather wonderfully calls it, ‘land provision for the labouring poor’ and, because I have so much room there, and because I was determined to make the whole site as low maintenance as possible, I planted a LOT of onions. Normally, I would counsel that growing onions was a waste time, but in this case – one of ample space and limited time – they fitted the bill perfectly.

And the onion harvest turned out to be a joy

Let me tell you, the picking of them, which I did a couple of weeks ago, was profoundly satisfying; gardening pleasure second only to pumpkin day (more of which next week). Onions store best if they are left to ‘cure’ in a dry, warm (but not too warm) spot with plenty of air around them. So mine are neatly arranged on the slatted bench in the greenhouse and, as I lay them out in rows, their long, papery stems hanging down through the slats, I have a fleeting glimpse of what it feels like to be Monty Don.

Almost all suppers start with an onion now

But, aside from chopping them up for the base of stews, soups, sauces and virtually every mid-week meal in our household, I do enjoy roasting them. A roast onion will bring an air of intricacy to a simple roast chicken dinner; and, chopped into pasta and buried in parmesan, it makes a flavoursome meal in minutes. But a roast onion has a bold enough character to take centre stage too, as in my roast onion with marmite beans recipe, and this week’s recipe too: a dip that is embarrassingly simple but, I warn you now, dangerous more-ish. Make double what you think you need.

A baguette is ideal for scooping: crunchy enough to contrast with the velvety dip and generous in surface area to carry more dip. Of course you can scoop with anything (spoon included), but the well-developed, yeasty, cereal flavour of a properly made baguette and its uniquely chewy crust is worth the extra effort.

I must thank Emmanuel Hadjiandreou and The School of Artisan Food for so kindly inviting me on their one-day French Baking course and showing me how to make better bread, like the baguettes pictured. Perfectly walking the line between geekiness and simplicity, and nestled in the spectacular grounds of a stately home in rural Nottinghamshire, it’s a great day out and I highly recommend a trip. Here’s what I got up to on my trip there last week:

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After the class, and in an uncharacteristic show of restraint, I drove the three hour journey down the M1 back to Oxfordshire without eating these baguettes. And, that made the dunking in this onion dip, all the more satisfying.

Roast onion dip for proper baguettes

Such depth of flavour should take more work than simply roasting a glut of onions and stirring them through good quality cream cheese with a few extras. Its uses are many: a dip for crudites, a sauce for pasta, or spread over puff pastry, topped with cheese and baked into a rough tart. Or, most likely, just eaten with a spoon from the mixing bowl.

Serves 6

• 3 large onions, peeled

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil