Onion Oh Precious Rings

Ya gotta eat a lot of bad rings before you find a good one.

It’s just a fact.

And I’ve eaten my fair share of lousy onion rings.

I’ve tried a whole lot of “best ever” recipes, only to find that they were dull, tasteless, limpy, batterless, too battered, messes of goo. And given how messy making them is, that’s really really frustrating.

Now this is not a great recipe. I’ve probably not found that yet, but this one is good. It comes out as pictured. Nice light batter that actually is strong enough to stay on the ring. Flavor it up with plenty of seasoning, and it goes nicely with your burger or ribs, or whatever it seems good to go with to you.

A tip or two to make it easier to do, and you are on your way.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 large onion, cut in 1/4 inch slices, push the rings apart, and save the centers for some other use.
• 1 c flour (more or less)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp cayenne
• 1 tbsp Old Bay seasoning
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 c milk
• oil for frying

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Cut up the onions, and let sit for a few minutes to dry a bit.
2. Heat up the oil. About 1 inch in depth. I’m thinking around 325° but frankly I don’t measure the temp, just a sizzle when you scatter a droplet of water on it. A bit higher than medium on the electric range.
3. Mix all the dry ingredients with a whisk. Then add the milk and egg, whisking until smooth.
4. Batter should be thick enough to coat the onion ring, and be visible. Drop one in and see how it goes. The batter should remain and should, after browning and turning look very much like the picture. The onion ring should sink into the batter, not sit on top, but not be so drippy watery that it is just wet. Got that? Your test ring will help you. Either add a bit more flour or more milk to get it right.
5. Then continue on frying, removing rings as they are done and depositing them on a jelly roll pan lined with paper towel and covered with a cooling rack. Place in a 250° oven to keep warm and crisp until ready to eat.

Serves: 4

Note: I use two wooden skewers. One to fish out the onion ring from the batter and drop it in the oil, and another to turn it over and fish it out of the oil. This makes the process ever so less messy. No hands, no gummy mess with a pair of tongs.

Also, adjust seasonings as you desire. The cayenne is optional of course.

Related articles

• Homemade Onion Rings (thesmartcookiecook.com)
• Fried Onion Rings (cooksomethingsimple.wordpress.com)

Caramelized Pearls

I just love these onions. They are so sweet and succulent.

They are also a pain to fix. So I tend to make them at holidays.

Do yourself a favor and prepare them for cooking the day before. You won’t have the patience for it on the big day.

It’s really not that bad.

You know how sometimes you get frustrated with peeling an onion where the papery skin won’t slide off, and you just take a whole good layer and get on with it?

Well pearls are awfully little, and if you do that, you won’t have much left. So don’t do that!

I’ve come upon a decent way to clean them without too much of a rise in blood pressure.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 bag of pearl onions (about 20-25 in a bag)
• 3 tbsp butter or oil, or combination

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Cut off just the very top of the tip end, (NOT the root), and lightly score down the side to the root without slicing into the next layer.
2. When all are done, place in boiling water for no more than 30 seconds. Have a slotted spoon ready to pull them out. Let them cool, and you should be able to remove the papery outer layer fairly easily. Store in a plastic bag until ready to cook.
3. Melt the butter in a saute pan and place onions in the pan on medium heat, shaking the pan often to roll them around. Once browned nicely, reduce to lower heat and continue until done and nicely soft. Shake pan now and again to keep from burning. This will take between 30-45 minutes normally.

Serves: 4

Treasure Hunt Mash Potatoes

I love potatoes.

I love mashed potatoes.

I get tired of mashed potatoes with gravy or with just butter.

The PioneerWoman gave me the ingredients for this.

The amounts are not so important.  Fudge it around depending on how many you are serving. Leftovers here are good, but the treasures may soften up on ya, so I’d say it’s best eaten up!

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 med-lg russet potatoes, peeled and cut up for boiling.
• 1/3 stick butter
• 1/2 c sour cream
• 6 slices bacon, cut up in 1/2″ pieces and cooked until crisp, drained.
• 4-5 scallions chopped with some of the green parts
• 2/3 c French’s fried onions (or other similar brand)
• salt and pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Boil the potatoes until fork tender, drain.
2. Add the butter and cream and mash.
3. Add the scallions and bacon, stirring just to incorporate.
4. Place in serving bowl and sprinkle all over with the fried onions.

Serves: 3-4

Related articles

• A New Combo (bookcasefoodie.wordpress.com)

Eureka! That’s Mac & Cheese

Mac and cheese is easy. Make a bechamel sauce, add cheese, stir in the macaroni, dump in a baking dish, cover and cook until bubbly.

Except that it sucks pretty much. It’s okay when you first eat it, but when you reheat it, it’s tasteless, dry and just plain blech.

My husband has eaten (during periods in his life) a ton of mac and cheese. He pretty much could take it or leave it. Okay, honestly, mostly leave it.

Until I found this magic secret from Ms. Carla at The Chew. Add some cream cheese. And don’t bake it. (I guess you could if you wanted.)

And I did that, and added a bit of my own idea, and didn’t add some of hers, and well, I can tell you, my husband declared this to be “the best mac and cheese I’ve ever eaten.”

With Carla’s additions of onions and bacon, this is a main dish. I made it without and used it as a side dish to barbecued ribs. We feasted!

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 Tbsp butter
• 3 Tbsp flour
• 1 1/2 – 1 3/4 c warmed milk
• 2 cups shredded cheese (any combination of cheddar, sharp, medium, jack, pepper jack, Gruyère, etc.)
• 4 oz cream cheese at room temperature
• salt and pepper to taste (or any thing you might like such as a bit of chipotle powder or cayenne)
• 1 c toasted bread crumbs (homemade or not as you choose)
• 1 c caramelized onions
• 6-8 slices bacon, cooked, and crumbled
• 2 c elbow macaroni (or other pasta), cooked and drained

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Melt butter in a large sauce pan, add the flour and cook for one minute.
2. Add the milk and continue heating until it boils and thickens.
3. Take off the heat, and add the cheeses and stir until melted.
4. Taste for saltiness, and add any needed salt and as much pepper as you like
5. Add the cooked macaroni, and stir until combined.
6. Add onions and bacon if using.
7. Spoon into a serving dish and place a nice coating of bread crumbs over. Serve.

Serves: about 6 as a side, less if it’s the main dish obviously.

 

 

Corn Casserole Taken Up a Notch

I was not familiar with corn casseroles. They were not on the menu of any of my relatives in my youth.

But. I do love corn. So I went on a quest to find the perfect recipe.

And I sort of found it, since I liked the idea of cornmeal in it. That seemed sensible. But JiffyMix? I don’t like boxes and ingredients I can’t pronounce.

So, I pondered and added and subtracted, and I stomped my foot about three times, and finally came up with this combo of other recipes and an idea or two of my own.

And I do think that it came out darn well.

And I hope you agree.

So try it.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 15oz can regular corn, drained (or equivalent fresh or frozen)
• 1 15 oz can creamed corn
• 1/2 c diced onion
• 1/2 c diced green pepper
• 1 jalapeño diced (remove seeds if you don’t like heat)
• 1/2 cup roasted red pepper, chopped
• 2/3 c sour cream
• 2/3 c cream
• 2 eggs whisked
• 1/2 stick butter melted
• 1/2 c flour
• 1/2 c cornmeal
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp pepper
• salt to taste
• 2 cups shredded cheese ( I used sharp cheddar)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°.
2. In a skillet, saute the onions, green pepper and jalapeño until softened. Set aside
3. In a large bowl put the corn, the cream, sour cream and melted butter. Be careful that it’s not too hot and then add the eggs. Add the roasted red peppers.
4. In a separate bowl add the dry ingredients and whisk.
5. Add the sautéed veggies and then the dry ingredients to the corn mixture.
6. Add the cheese, and stir until just mixed.
7. Turn into an oiled casserole and cook for 45 minutes or until bubbly and browning slightly. Remove and let sit for 15 before serving.

Serves: 6 at least.