CEiMB: Oven Baked Onion Rings

I began participating in the “Craving Ellie in My Belly” event so that I would be motivated to create and blog at least one new recipe each week … and now I am making these recipes because they are so incredibly delicious! Every one I have tried so far has been a taste sensation at the table. The recipes that I’ve missed making for the weekly event, are lined up to try as soon as I am able. Today’s choice of Oven Baked Onion Rings by Mary Ann of Meet Me in the Kitchen was another winner.

I made some substitutions in the ingredients …

I used home-made yogurt instead of buttermilk.
I used regular potato chips instead of “baked” potato chips.
and I used regular onions instead of vidalia onions (I only wish I could get vidalia onions!!)
Just as a note, I don’t usually own “cooking spray” … that is one of the additions to my larder (along with balsamic vinegar) that was made possible by the opening of a local Walmart. At the rate that I use it, this one can will last me for a few years yet.


Oven Baked Onion Rings
2007, Ellie Krieger, All rights reserved

4 side-dish servings

Ingredients:

Cooking spray
4 cups baked potato chips
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 cup lowfat buttermilk
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 to 2 large Vidalia onions, peeled

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Spray a baking sheet slightly with oil and set aside.

Place potato chips in the bowl of a food processor and process into crumbs, about 20 seconds.

Transfer to a shallow bowl, add cayenne, and set aside.

In another bowl, combine buttermilk (or yogurt), 2 tablespoons of flour, salt and pepper and set aside.

Slice onions into 1/2-inch circles and separate into rings, keeping only large, whole rings (reserve rest of onions for other uses). You should come out with about 12 to 14 rings.

Place the remaining flour in a sealable plastic bag, then add onions, and shake to coat.

Dip onions 1 at a time into the buttermilk mixture, then dip into potato chip crumbs and place on baking sheet.

Spray canola oil evenly over rings and bake for 20 minutes, or until coating is crisp.

Season with salt, to taste, and serve immediately.

Verdict:

I had company here for lunch, and served the Onion Rings with Linguini w/ Cilantro Pesto and … well … we ate them all! They were excellent. The only thing they lacked was a good dip … we all agreed that a ranch style dip would have finished off the flavor of the dish perfectly. In the absence of that, I served mayonaise with the Onion Rings and we were all quite satisfied with the result. I would like to experiment a bit with the coating … I’m sold on the yogurt part of it … it gave a fantastic flavor. But I’m thinking to TRY with bread crumbs (maybe that excellent coating that was on the fish sticks) or with cracker crumbs. I liked the bite of the cayenne.