Melting middle onions

• onions↗8 large brown
• butter↗40g g
• pine nuts↗70g g
• breadcrumbs↗150g soft white g

  soft white

• garlic clove↗1

  finely grated

• thyme sprigs↗5

  leaves picked

• parsley↗½ small bunch of

  finely chopped

• egg↗1 medium

  beaten

• scamorza↗100g g

  (smoked mozzarella) or regular mozzarella

Step-by-step instructions

1. 1

   Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Cut a small disc off the root bottom of each onion so they stand upright. Cut 1cm slices off the tops (these will be used as lids), then put back on top of the onions. Wrap each onion in foil, transfer to a baking tray, and bake for 1 hr until tender.

2. 2

   Melt the butter in a pan. Tip into a bowl. Add the pine nuts to the pan and toast over a low heat for 2 mins until golden. Add to the butter with the breadcrumbs, garlic, thyme, parsley and egg. Stir, then season.

3. 3

   Cut the cheese into 8 chunky cubes. When the onions are cool enough to handle, scoop out the soft centres, leaving a few layers of onion at the edge. Finely chop the scooped-out centres from 2 onions, and add to the breadcrumb mix (reserve the rest to use in another recipe, such as ragu). Spoon the breadcrumb mixture into the hollowed-out onions so they’re halfway full, then push a piece of cheese into the middle of each and top up with more breadcrumb mixture. Top each onion with its ‘lid’, then roast for 35-40 mins more until tender and the cheese is melted.