Baked Onion Rings

Onion rings are a timeless comfort food classic, yet do not exactly fit in well with "healthy eating".  However, I am here to inform the world that non-fried, tasty onion rings do indeed exist!  Here is a recipe that can be made two ways: All buttermilk or half buttermilk, half egg whites. 

The all buttermilk version is easier, and tastes great.  The use of egg whites does add an extra element of crunch, but also is trickier to pull off without a helper, as the egg whites loose volume quickly.  Keep this in mind.  Also, make sure to coat the onion rings with panko well, even if it means manually pressing panko into the onion ring.  You'll thank me later!!

INGREDIENTS

• 4 large Vidalia onions, cut into 1/2-inch-thick-slices
• 2 cups Buttermilk
• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 2 cups whole-wheat panko breadcrumbs
• 4 large egg whites (optional)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
• Nonstick cooking spray

Roasted Shallot with Spinach Dip

Shallots are an easily forgotten, yet delectable cousin to onions and garlic.  This recipe showcases their brilliance while providing an alternative to boring, predictable onion dip, and can even make you the hero with the best snack at the Super Bowl Party.  Well, lets not get crazy.

 

INGREDIENTS

1. 3 large french shallots (or 6 -7 of the small shallots), chopped
2. 1 medium onion, chopped
3. 1 clove of garlic, petals detached
4. Olive Oil
5. 8 oz Reduced Fat Sour Cream
6. 1/2 cup half and half
7. 1/4 cup water
8. 1/2 tsp minced fresh rosemary or Dried
9. 1/2 cup cheddar, grated (I used 2% Cracker Barrel Sharp)
10. 4 oz fresh spinach
11. 1 bunch green onions, chopped
12. 1/4 cup minced parsley (packed)
13. Sea Salt
14. Pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Place onions, shallots and garlic on separate pieces of foil with 2 - 3 tbsp olive oil and roast.
   
   1. Shallots: 30-40 minutes, or until brown and caramelized.
   2. Garlic : 10 - 15 minutes, or until soft when squeezed.
   3. Onion: 60-75 minutes, or until brown and caramelized.
3. Cool roasted vegetables.
   1. Remove shells from the garlic petals and any peel from shallots or onions
   2. Collect any extra olive oil.
4. Combine the garlic, onion and half of the shallots in a blender, and puree until smooth.
   
   1. Add remaining olive oil, and if the mixture is too think, a few drops of water.
5. In another bowl, mix the sour cream, puree and remaining shallots. 
   
   1. Refrigerate until needed.
6. Combine the half and half, water, and rosemary in a 2 quart sauce pan, and simmer on low heat, whisking constantly.
   
   1. Slowly add 2 tbsp grated cheddar at a time, whisking until the cheese is completely melted and incorporated before adding more.
   2. Add the parsley, spinach and green onions
   3. Continue to simmer and whisk until the mixture is very thick and reduced in volume by 25%.
7. Add the warm cream mixture to the sour cream. 
   
   1. Add salt and pepper to taste.
   2. Serve warm with a sliced baguette.

 

Fire Roasted Salsa

 

This recipe is always a winner, who doesn't love fresh salsa?  

INGREDIENTS

Yield: 3 cups

9 vine ripe tomatoes
1 small onion
1 jalapenos, diced
9-10 petals of garlic
1 petal of garlic, minced
½ bunch fresh cilantro
1 1/2 limes
Olive oil
1/4 tsp cumin
sea salt
Olive oil cooking spray

DIRECTIONS

 

1. Process vegetables
   1. Cut tomatoes in half
   2. Cut onion into quarters
   3. Mince one quarter of the onion, and set aside.
2. Roast vegetables
   1. Heat toaster oven or broiler to 450, oven to 325
   2. Line large baking pans with foil
   3. Spray with cooking spray
   4. Place tomatoes, 3/4 onion and garlic separately on baking pans and drizzle with olive oil
      1. I like to make little pouches with foil so that I can put onions and garlic on the same pan
   5. Roast tomatoes until charred in broiler, 5 - 10 minutes
   6. In the oven, roast onions until carmelized, and garlic until squishy when squeezed.
      1. 45+ minutes for onions
      2. 15-20 minutes for garlic
3. Remove skin from onion and garlic, then puree onions, tomatoes, garlic and olive oil in blender
4. Remove cilantro leaves from stem, and discard stems
   1. Mince cilantro
5. Mix vegetable puree, cilantro, and minced garlic, onions and jalapeno.  Squeeze lime juice into mixture, tasting for consistency
   1. Add cumin
   2. Add sea salt in 1/4 tsp increments, tasting after each addition.  Stop adding sea salt when desired saltiness is reached.  I used 1/2 tsp.

Roasted Fennel with Parmesan

I'm quite fond of fennel. Mostly, I eat it raw - on its own or in a salad. I've put it in soups from time to time, but I also like to roast it. Fennel, like other vegetables when they're roasted, will caramelize and develop a subtle sweetness. The fennel here is roasted simply and the saltiness of the Parmesan cheese compliments it nicely.

Black Bean Salad

With summer getting closer it's time to brush up on some quick sides and salads that are versatile enough to serve with just about anything. This one came from my wife asking me to pick up a bean salad from the deli counter, but the line was just too long and, well, why not make it yourself?

Potatoes Au Gratin

From my experience, you mostly can't go wrong by adding cheese to a savory dish. I mean, if it can be used to trick unsuspecting children into eating their broccoli, surely this is some kind of super food. Which is just one reason why I've always been fascinated by Potatoes Au Gratin. I've never made them in the past because I'm generally not to fond of cream sauces, but I finally gave in to the potato-cheese-siren.

Top 10 Super Bowl Recipes

While considering the Super Bowl party I'm not having, I started thinking about all the great appetizer-type dishes that make these parties fun for those of us who aren't such big football fans. There are the classics, of course, and the misadventures (usually in the form of a seven-layer-bean-dip) - but good food always makes a good party. 

Roasted Garlic Bean Dip

So I'm standing on line at the grocery store, and I'm next. There are several people behind me with loaded carts and I notice I have a voice mail. It's from my wife. She's asking me to bring home some hummus. There's none in my cart but there's no way I'm abandoning my spot in line.

I'd be committing another 30 minutes for those mashed garbonzos and it's not that my wife isn't worth it, but I figured I could come up with a substitute when I got home. Here's what I improvised.

Meatballs with Soy-Mirin Glaze

My kids aren't the best eaters.

Well, let me clarify. The Big One is happy to try most things and has a broader palette (which mostly doesn't include vegetables), but the Little One has a diet whose entries you could count on one hand.

Wedged between the hot dogs and the chicken fingers are little meatballs that my wife get's from a local deli. He wants nothing to do with my Real Italian Meatballs, which is a point of contention and the reason I'll be taking him out of my will unless he changes his ways, but I figured I could at least try to replicate the golf-ball-sized spheres of beef he drools over whenever my wife returns from town. I tried once without much success, then a co-worker gave me a recipe, which I've based these on.

I'm pretty sure those deli meatballs use some kinds of canned beef gravy and I'm absolutely sure these are much better. As it turns out, the Little One thinks so, too.

Potato Latkes

The best thing about having married a Jewish woman isn't the gifilte fish.

My wife possesses many wonderful qualities but cooking isn't one of them. Bad cooks aren't born that way so I do my best to indulge her food cravings, the latest of which was potato latkes. I'd never made them before, so the recipe below is an amalgam of a few different recipes I researched online.