Tuesday eating from your yard tip~Onion Chives (Allium Schoenoprasum). The pink flowers and the leaves have a subtle onion flavor making them both visually and palette pleasing. My favorite way to eat chives are chopped up and heated with a quarter size of oil, to flavor the oil, before I throw in my eggs. Today for lunch I added chopped chive leaves to my egg salad. The flowers and leaves mixed into cream cheese is a reliable crowd pleaser. They can also be added to baked potatoes, as well as pasta, potato and green salads. Lori Pokorny Leif turned me onto chopped chives leaves mixed into cottage cheese. I was skeptical at first, but it is a yummy combination!
Chong Knieval, who was originally from Korea, said in Korea they eat chives in the spring to clean the blood. She mixed eggs and chives similar to a Korean pancakes and fried them. Chives are also good mixed into the dumpling and wonton filling.
Of course the traditional favorite is mixed with butter and sour cream on a baked potato. Thanks to Sara Zimbelman’s tip to freeze the chopped chives in butter, I have been enjoying chives all winter. You can also chop the leaves into soften butter to mold it in the refrigerator in fancy shapes for dinner parties. Last summer my house guest, Nathanael Mena Mijangos, made some fabulous nachos topped with chive flowers. Oh and last but not least if you throw chive leaves in hot oil they crisp up and taste like onion rings without all the work.
How do you eat chives?
