A fried allium is the perfect finishing touch. Whether on top of a medium-rare steak, and creamy potato soup, or a gooey bowl of macaroni and cheese (or like, a salad or something), fried onions, leeks, garlic, and the like provide crispy texture and salty, umami-rich, slightly pungent flavor. In short, they are desirable. They also just got a bit more convenient, thanks to this microwave method from Cook’s Illustrated.
Not only is cooking them in the microwave a lot more hands-off (no-continuous stirring needed), it frees up stove top space and contains oil splatters. The details are slightly different for each allium—click the link below to read up—but the basic method is the same: Add your sliced allium to a half cup of oil in a microwave safe bowl, and cook in two-minute increments on full power until they begin to brown, stirring in between. Once they get a little color on them, decrease the cooking time to 30 seconds, and continue to cook and stir until they’re a “deep golden.” Transfer your savory treasures to a paper towel to drain and crisp up, and season with salt.
Though Cook’s Illustrated only mentions leeks, shallots, and garlic, I tried this micro-method with a plain ol’ onion and fared quite well. I did however, find they weren’t quite as crisp as I liked at first, but that was easily fixed by popping them back in the microwave on a fresh paper towel for about 10 seconds. This also worked well for re-crisping after they were stored in the fridge, which means you can pre-batch a bunch of fried alliums, then re-crisp them at you leisure, and I love a leisurely onion.
How to Make Microwave-Fried Shallots, Garlic, and Leeks | Cook’s Illustrated