Baked onions with parmesan and cream

"Baked till they are so tender you can crush them between your fingers and thumb, these soft, creamy onions are probably my favourite accompaniment to roast lamb or cold roast beef. But they make a sound main course, too. I eat them and their cheesy sauce with mounds of blandly comforting brown rice, steamed with a cinnamon stick and a couple of cloves. The recipe has altered from the original in that I now add a few thyme leaves to flavour the cream. (February 2004)" Nigel Slater recipe, printed in the Guardian 15 May 2011

Ingredients

• onions 4 medium to large
• whipping or double cream 300ml
• thyme the leaves from 3 sprigs
• grated Parmesan a good handful
• To serve: steamed brown rice for 4

Method

Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4. Peel the onions and bring to the boil in a large, deep pot of water. Leave at a bright simmer for about 25 minutes until tender. Lift them out with a draining spoon. Slice the onions in half from root to tip and put them cut-side down in an ovenproof dish. Mix the cream and thyme leaves and tip over the onions. Season with salt, pepper and the grated Parmesan and bake for 25-35 minutes till golden and bubbling.