The inspiration behind this recipe was a bottle of Merlot. It didn`t take long to link it with beef mince. The beef was linked to a fresh bunch of rosemary. The rosemary was linked to sweet cherry tomatoes. And all this was linked to a nice rustic bread. The whole idea end up in this great and hearty dish. It is tasty and juicy. It got flavors and loads of gravy to dip my bread in.

The big question here was how to scoop out the onions. My internet research showed few results:

1. Scoop out the raw onions- This idea was immediately rejected in my head as I imagined myself endlessly crying over 6 big onions

2. To cut into halves and scoop out after 20 mins baking- Thinking about it I decided that this will totally ruin my idea of keeping the juices of my stuffing in the onion itself, therefore it was rejected.

I took the initiative and decided to clean my onions from the first two layers of skin, cut the top 2 cm and boil for 10 minutes until soft enough. That was the winner! After cooling my onions I used a spoon and it was almost easy to scoop out each onion by keeping it whole and firm.

Next was to prepare the stuffing. And here I kept it simple but incredible delicious. Some things just go together so well! Like onions, lean beef mince, fresh tomatoes and rosemary. I seasoned the stuffing only with salt and pepper and I added one good glass of Merlot. Cooked for another 20 mins my stuffing was ready and using a big spoon I filled the onions. Ready to bake I pour another glass of red wine and a splash of balsamic vinegar. The aroma was tempting. I served it with surprisingly good red wine and rustic whole grain bread.

Ingredients (for 6 onions)

– 6 big onions

– 250 g minced beef

– 5-6 cherry tomatoes

– a small bunch of fresh rosemary

– 2 glasses of your favorite Merlot

– olive oil

– 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

– salt and pepper