Photo by Rachael Brugger

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients
4 large yellow onions (3½ pounds)
3/4 cup corn kernels
1 cup diced cooked chicken
1/2 cup finely diced celery
1½ T. sweet pimento peppers, drained and diced
1/2 tsp. sweet paprika (substitute 1/2 tsp. chili powder or 1/4 tsp. hot smoked paprika)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
2 T. heavy cream
1 T. butter, cut into four pieces (plus extra to grease baking dish)

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Slice ends off onions and peel. Place in single layer in large saucepan, add water to cover, cover with lid, and bring to boil. Boil for 10 minutes. Remove onions from water and let cool on cutting board for 15 minutes.

Using kitchen towel to grip onion with one hand, use other hand and sharp paring knife to cut through and lift out center layers of each onion, leaving 1/2-inch shell around sides. (Don’t worry if there’s open space at bottom.) Finely chop removed onion parts to equal 1/2 cup. Reserve remaining onion for another use. (They make good caramelized onions when chopped into uniformly sized pieces.)

Chop corn kernels in food processor until minced and starting to get creamy; stop short of puréeing them. Place in bowl, add chopped onion and all remaining ingredients except butter, and stir well.

Place onions in buttered baking dish. Stuff each with corn-chicken mixture, pressing stuffing down firmly with back of spoon. If outer layer of onion has split during parboiling, mend it with toothpick. Place piece of butter on top of each onion. Bake, uncovered, for 35 minutes. Allow to sit for 5 minutes before serving.