I'VE been quite happy to grab the biggest onions in sight whenever I want to add flavour to a casserole or stirfry. The larger the onions, the less hassle with peeling and chopping and less time to cry.

Last week I had to rethink the habits of a lifetime. I had a phone call from the Shallots PR lady, wanting me to promote the tiny ones.

What did shallots ever do to get a PR lady all to themselves? Dunno, but she did a good job of convincing me that I really should forget my love affair with onions and transfer my affections to shallots.

Shallots, she said, are far superior. The flavour is more intense, the water content lower, and all good chefs choose shallots over onions.

That very evening I had the chance to prove her right.

We were at Taplow House Hotel, which has transformed its restaurant into Strok's, a rather fine eating establishment which recently won two AA stars. They were having a Gourmet and Wine Tasting Evening which was going very well indeed, with gorgeous wines, congenial company which got quite jolly as the liquid flowed, and some very fine cooking from chef Neil Dore.

And there beside the rare fillet of beef, truffled potato cake and red wine sauce was a shallot pure.

I must have looked odd as I ignored the finery on my plate and went straight to tasting the pure. Delicious it was too, just as the PR lady said, with a delicate yet pungent and intense flavour.

Neil told me later that he simply slices up a load of shallots, sweats them in butter with the lid on, and leaves them to steam gently for an hour with a little salt and butter.

He then pops them in a blender to create the puree.

The whole five-course menu was imaginative, from the terrine of braised rabbit with foie gras, through crabmeat risotto to the roast peach with iced peach parfait (and at £45 excellent value for money with champagne on arrival, wines with every dish and a fine port with the cheese).

But it's the shallot puree I'll be recreating at home.

The next Gourmet and Wine Tasting Evening at Taplow House Hotel is planned for October 24.