Fried Scallions

I love green onions a.k.a. spring onions or scallions, and although there is a slight difference between each, I use them pretty much interchangeably in my cooking. This week, though I stopped by a roadside stand near Kutztown and found lovely bunches of real-for-real scallions and brought them home.

Pretty, aren't they?

Once I had them, I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with them. I prefer the more delicate and smaller green onion because I'm not a huge fan of raw onions in any form. I just couldn't pass up those scallions, though and so I plotted their consumption for a couple days.

I decided on a not-so-healthy way to eat them, telling myself that they were fresh and so the dredging of them in breadcrumbs and frying in oil would be canceled out somehow.

Oh well, ignorance is bliss.

I have to say, scallions do not want to be done up in a standard breading; no way, no how. They are slippery little suckers that don't want to hold on to anything you put on them and so, the breading procedure was delicate and difficult at best. I didn't bother with flouring them, I simply went straight to egg wash and dipped the onion bulbs in a lovely panko and Romano breading and fried them in olive oil.

They met their demise in a decidedly delicious end. Perfectly crunchy and nutty outside with the Romano cheese and sweet and slightly crunchy inside. Don't be bothered by the long ends that won't be eaten, they really are just for show and one bite will have the eater forgiving you for that waste anyway. The only thing I would do differently when making them again (oh, because I most certainly will) is that I may actually deep fry them so they are done on all sides a bit more quickly.

Leftover Sausage and the Sausage Sandwich Tart

*Disclaimer: These photos are really bad. My poor old camera is not doing so well, I guess, but a new one is absolutely out of the budget for now. Hey, it still looks like food, right?*

My mother brought over the mammoth of all sausages - a full 3 1/2 pounds from her favorite butcher. I have no idea why she thought we needed that much, but she was thrilled that they still use real butcher paper and tape, and so, I humored her and told her how fabulous I thought it was. In truth, I still get meat from my own butcher in real butcher paper, but I let mom have her moment.

I cooked all of it at once, knowing we would never eat it all in one sitting, and set aside what we didn't eat with homemade waffles and thought on what else I'd like to make. I had a bit of puff pastry leftover and some lovely red and green peppers and a very nice yellow onion. I really enjoy a good sausage sandwich and decided a tart based on that would be pretty darn good. I was right.

I pressed the pastry into a 10 inch round baking pan, caramelized the peppers and onions and sliced the sausage thinly and layered it all together. I think it baked for a total of 30 minutes at 400 degrees F and it was far prettier than my photos captured. Far more delicious, too!

R,S,C #28 Recipes

Here are submissions from this week's game-they both look great!

From Krista at Going Gluten-Free:

Goat Cheese Stuffed Rump Steak

1 lb rump steaks (approximately 1/2" thickness)
1 quart buttermilk
Flour for dusting (I use rice flour)
1 8oz package of soft goat cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
4 spring onions, sliced thinly
5 oz cooked spinach, drained VERY well
1 cup chopped artichoke hearts
2 cloves garlic, 1 minced, one just smashed
Olive oil for cooking.
Butcher's twine

Soak steaks in buttermilk for at least 1 hour and up
to 3 hours.

While steaks are soaking, in a bowl mix the goat cheese,
Parmesan, onion, spinach, artichoke hearts and half of
the garlic very well. Allow to sit in fridge for about
an hour so that the flavors really blend well together.

Pull from buttermilk and pat dry. Cover steak with plastic
wrap and pound to about 1/4" thickness.

Spread cheese mixture onto the steaks leaving approximately
1" border around. Roll up burrito style (fold in Left and
Right sides first, THEN roll up).
Tie with butchers twine to keep together.

Roll the "rolls" in flour to coat, but don't use too much.

Heat a large skillet and place olive oil in there.
Smash the last garlic clove and place in the hot oil
and slide around for a bit....remove this before it
turns too brown.

Place steak rolls in pan. Cook 3-5 minutes a side depending
on your doneness preference. Remove and let rest for about
5 minutes, covered in foil before slicing.

@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@

From Mirz at Lots of Kids

Baked Grecian Steak

Rump Steak
1 cup Olive Oil
1 tbsp Garlic
1 tbsp Oregano
1 tbsp Basil
1/2 cup lemon juice
Salt and Pepper
2-3 whole Potatoes (depending on size)
Spring Onions
Goat (Feta) Cheese

Combine oil, garlic, basil, oregano, and lemon juice. Take half of mixture and marinade steak in it. In a separate bowl, cut potatoes in to large chunks, add onions. Toss potatoes and onion in remaining oil mixture. Place potatoes/onions into casserole dish. Remove steak from marinade. Slice into strip and place over potatoes and onions. Cover with foil and cook at 350 degree 30-40 minutes, until potatoes are done. Sprinkle with goat cheese and additional oregano before serving.

Ready, Set, Cook! #28

If you have not played yet, please click the button above to read the rules of play.

I "stole" today's 3 from a recent game of Ready, Steady, Cook!, the British game similar to the Ready, Set, Cook! that used to air on The Food Network.

rump steak
goats' cheese
spring onions

Takes a little thinking this week!