Wild Onions and Steak in the Sierras

I spent the weekend in the Sierras with my boys, Sam and Andrew. Time with them in the outdoors has always been one of my favorite activities and it continues to be. Because it is harder and harder to get time with them, I cherish that time all the more. 

Andrew has a favorite place for mushrooms in the Sierras, in Horseshoe Meadow, above Lone Pine. We went there and found no edible mushrooms on this trip, but we did find lots of wild onion. 

Andrew and Sam near Horseshoe Meadow.

We sampled the purple flower, both closed as a bulb, partially opened, and a fully opened. 

The flowers in various stages.

It has a very strong garlic flavor. The more mature the flower on top, the redder the underground stem. The redder the underground stem, the stronger the garlic and scallion taste. Those with white underground stems were very mild and the red stems could be quite strong. We also found that the green stems were wonderful. Nice and crunchy with a nice oniony, but not overpowering taste. 

Our wild onion haul.

We found a campground to do some cooking, just above Independence and below Onion Valley, with a nice view of Mt. Williamson in the distance. 

Andrew had a gas stove and we'd bought some butter, spices and some cheap chuck steak. While we were cooking we had a deer get quite close to us, eating the vegetation off of trees. So nice to be in an outdoor setting. 

We cooked the wild onion in a frying pan with butter and rosemary salt and pepper. My-oh-my, it was wonderful. 

Batch one was so good that we did another batch, this time with more stem and lots more onion. Taste and texture was very much like grilled Mexican onions. 

Then we put the chuck steak in the pan with butter, in several batches, adding wild onion to later batches. 

Although it was cheap steak, it was fabulous. Sam had purchased some brie cheese and added the brie to the steak and it got even better.

Steak, wild onion and brie. Oh my.

This meal far surpassed our meal at the top rated bbq joint in Bishop, and was substantially cheaper. Some wild ingredients, great setting, great company and great meal. It will be a meal I'll cherish.