Locked down, I look at everything in a new light. Even the ever-present bowl of onions, whose contents I too often take for granted, has taken on a different significance. Rather than playing their usual hidden role, they became the stars of this week’s eating. First, they were pickled with cider vinegar, coriander seeds and bay as a piquant, garnet-hued addition to a winter salad of apple and fennel. Then, a couple of days later, they were the backbone of a silky mustard and cream sauce for frikadeller (or fricadelles, or frikandellen – take your pick).First, the sharp pickle. I sliced red onions finely, brought them to the boil with two vinegars – cider and darker, treacly malt – then let them sit a while with mustard seeds, sugar and chilli flakes. This added a punch to a winter salad of freckled leaves, rough-skinned apples and crisp, white fennel so clean and bright it made your heart sing. We ate it with wedges of blue cheese – Stichelton and Shropshire Blue – and baked potatoes,...
