I made lasagne today.. did the meat sauce, left if slow cooking and thought I'd get ahead with the white/cheese sauce. So I put onions in olive oil to gently soften (no browning) so I could add the rest later. Took it off the heat and left it....

when I came back to it, they have gone an incredibly odd green colour where they were out of the oil !... I'd guess it was the sulphurous compounds reacting with the air.. but couldn't use them even if they were safe.. who would want green sauce in lasagne !... lol

Steve

I noticed that happen once when I was cooking onions in a copper pan. I don't know if the copper has anything to do with it, but it was the only time I ever noticed it.

This pan is stainless steel ! so I don't think there could have been the same reaction if any in that...

Steve

This happens more often with garlic, especially when it is older, sort of beginning to sprout a little.

I am sure we discussed this topic on the forum a long while back, not sure how to find it. I have a feeling Lapis explained it, she was great at the science behind the food. She has deserted us for some reason :-(.

Steve: interesting to compare your lasagne recipe with Mamta's, and with my wife's, who did hers the other day. I think the secret of her success is her French b?chamel, made with Comt? cheese. It's also what makes her moussaka special. We had a Greek friend to dinner who said she loved our moussaka. The Greeks don't normally have any kind of cheese sauce in their moussaka, I think, but it really works.

Phil

out of interest, here was my lasagne http://postimage.org/image/yowzzmyb9/

I make the white sauce by putting onions on to to soften, then add English mustard, a tiny sprinkle of dried oregano, a touch of garlic then dry up all the olive oil I fry in with strong white bread flour !... mix into a paste then add milk a little at a time, then when its got enough milk in to stop it burning I add freshly grated reggiano parmigiano

Steve

Interesting. Very different from French b?chamel.

Phil

Looks delicious, Steve :)

When making b?chamel sauce I always stud a couple of bay leaves to a piece of onion with a couple of cloves. Then I put that into the milk while I bring the milk up to temperature. I was taught that the milk should be at a similar temperature to the rough roux.

Sid

Had a few 'onions turning green' incidents recently. All the same pan, heat setting and onions from the same sack used before without anything untoward happening.

I reckon my culprit is that as I was making several dishes at the same time I used the food processor and grated rather than sliced - and the onions came out very watery. Since subsequently I put the chopped onions in a colander to drain off any excess liquid before adding to the pan it has not happened again.

Winton

p.s. I was making spinach soup so onions turning green did not matter!

My latest batch of garlic pickle is looking slightly green. Garlic bulbs were freshly bought :-(. Tastes okay though.