Kem Ormond’s vegetable garden: How to grow onions and make a smoked salmon tart with them

Onions are an excellent winter crop. Photo / 123rf

Kem Ormond is a features writer for NZME community newspapers and The Country. She’s also a keen gardener. This week, she’s giving a hand up to the onion.

OPINION

I don’t think I would enjoy cooking as much as I do if onions weren’t around.

They have to be one of the most versatile vegetables and I love them all.

I tend to use them all year round, having spring onions usually in the garden most of the year, as for brown onions, I grow enough to supplement my stores over winter, and I grow the sweet red onions and gorgeous shallots if space permits.

Nothing is nicer than a caramelised onion tart with crisp flaky pastry, fresh spring onions in an Asian dish, or sweet red onions in a salad.

And who can’t resist a sausage with onions wrapped in a slice of bread when watching your son or grandson play rugby on a cold wet morning?

While there is quite a selection of different onions to be grown, each with its own flavour and sweetness, their growing conditions are the same.

Getting the ground ready

Onions like soil that is well dug over, not heavy and that has been enriched with compost and sheep pellets added into the mix.

Once dug over, you need to leave it to settle for a week or so, before planting out your seedlings.

Onions like a sunny area and enjoy a feed of liquid seaweed or blood and bone every four weeks during the main growing period.

Once planted you need to keep the soil moist, do not let it dry out.

Planting and varieties

Onions can be fiddly to plant individually but it's worth the effort. Photo / Unsplash / Lars Blankers

My brown onion seeds and spring onions have been planted in seed trays and they are growing well.

They should be ready to be planted out in the garden at the beginning of September.

It is a fiddly job planting them out individually, but I have found this is the way I seem to get a good result.

The seed I use is Pukekohe Long Keeper and it has been around forever and a day; it is still the most widely grown variety in New Zealand due to its strong flavour and good-keeping properties.

Make sure you don’t plant your seedlings too close as they need room for the bulb to form.

Planting red onions, the variety I use are either Californian Red or Sweet Red.

Depending on the variety of onions you are planting, make sure you read the seed packet well because if you do not plant at the right time, you will find that your onions bolt and do not form nice big bulbs.

You can plant your seed directly into the ground, but having tried both methods, I find seedlings seem to give me better results.

If you need to thin your onions, use your thinnings like spring onions, don’t waste them.

If planting directly into the ground, the seed needs to be sown in rows about 30cm apart, with the seed only about 5mm deep.

Maturing

Onions take about 5-6 months to mature so you do need to be patient.

When they are ready to be lifted, (use a fork, don’t be tempted to just pull the leaves) they will get floppy, and the leaves will start wilting.

Once lifted, leave them in a warm spot to dry out and then store them in mesh bags or tie them in clumps with gardener’s string.

Onions are a mainstay in any vegetable garden, they store well after harvest so can be enjoyed for months on end.

Here is one of my favourite recipes using brown onions that have been braised or caramelised, this tart is so tasty and sure to impress!

Recipe: Braised onion and smoked salmon tart

Braised onion and salmon tart is sure to impress your guests. Photo / Kem Ormond

Pastry, slow-cooked onion and herbs work beautifully together.

These tarts are ideal as a light lunch with some fresh asparagus on the side.

This recipe makes four tarts.

Ingredients

• 2 sheets of frozen puff pastry
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 4 onions, sliced
• 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 200g sour cream
• 2 Tbsp chopped chives and dill
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 400g smoked salmon
• 2 cups mixed soft herbs including dill, chives, basil and coriander, or whatever soft herbs you have in your garden
• 2 Tbsp light olive oil
• 1 Tbsp lemon or lime juice

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.

Cut one of the sheets of pastry into 4 squares and brush the edges with beaten egg.

Cut 1cm strips from the other pastry sheet and place them on the pastry squares to form a border. Press down gently and brush with the remaining egg.

Place on an oven tray and bake for 15 minutes until golden and crisp. Cool to room temperature.

In a saucepan, heat the oil and butter add the onion and ¼ cup water cover and cook on low heat until the onion is soft (approx 20 mins).

Remove the lid, add the vinegar and cook over medium heat until the liquid has evaporated. Cool.

Mix the sour cream, chopped herbs and lemon/lime juice and season to taste.

Fill the pastries with the onion mixture then top with the sour cream and smoked salmon.

Toss the herbs with oil and lemon/lime juice, season and serve on top of the tarts - (makes four).