100 count pearl onions unpeeled, from 3 10-ounce bags
2 1/2 ounces bacon applewood-smoked suggested, cut into a small dice
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg freshly grated
2 tablespoons sherry
1/2 bunch chives
to taste Kosher salt
Equipment
pot
medium saucepan
slotted spoon
Directions
Blanch the pearl onions for 3 minutes in a pot of boiling salted water. Drain, shock in a bath of ice water, and drain again. Peel the onions, leaving a little of the root end intact.
In a medium saucepan, cook the bacon until crisp, then remove it with a slotted spoon and drain it on paper towels.
Leave only two tablespoons of the cooking fat in the pan, and add the pearl onions, heavy cream and nutmeg. Add salt to taste.
Cover the pot with a lid, leaving it a little ajar. Cook onions until they are nearly cooked through, about 90 percent of the way, then remove the lid and finish cooking the onions while reducing the cream by half.
Stir in the sherry.
If the onions are done cooking before the cream has sufficiently reduced or if you're unsure about the alcohol in the sherry, remove the onions with a slotted spoon and transfer them to your serving dish. Continue cooking the remaining sauce to the desired consistency and taste and pour it back over the onions.