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.

Sunday Dinner - Al fresco!

Under a honey locust tree, no less. If you have one of these horrid trees in or near your yard, you'll be wondering what on earth I was thinking yesterday. Well, it was a day-after-the-storm day, which means sunny skies and light winds, perfect weather. I couldn't let it pass by without a picnic, but I didn't want to drag the entire family somewhere only to spend the whole day chasing the two youngest kids away from every imaginable danger.

So, we took the dining room table outdoors (not doing THAT again for a decade) and set it up on the lawn. As soon as we set it down it began raining tiny little green things - the little green things that are covering the top of the shed and car and obscuring my garden. Yes, those little things. They make you itch. They come with little green bugs attached sometimes. They are not good.

We traipsed back indoors to find something to cover the eating area with. We finally found a large sheet and thin ropes and went about setting it all up. That done, I finished off our loverly dinner and we ran from door to table before anything could land in the food. We were successful. We were proud. And then the wind blew.

Ah well, we picked and swept and blew our way through dinner and everyone went away full and content (and itchy).

This is what we supped on:

Fried Chicken (mom's recipe)
Roasted Red Potatoes
Vidalia Onion Pie
Cucumber Salad
Homemade Coleslaw (Well, isn't everything I make homemade? I write a food blog! Redundant, no? Onward...)
White Sweet Corn
Rhubarb Crumble with Vanilla Custard

Vidalia Onion Pie

Chicken and Red Potatoes

Kids lovin' the outdoor dining!

Recipes are linked where necessary, and this is the onion pie:

Four Corners Vidalia Onion Casserole
Printable Recipe

3 cups finely chopped Vidalia onion
3/4 stick unsalted butter
1/2 can cream of chicken soup
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese - grated
hot sauce, pepper, dill, parsley and creole seasoning - all to taste
shredded sharp cheddar cheese - enough to cover each layer
single shallow pie crust

Lightly brown onions in butter in a large frying pan. Stir in soup, eggs, Parmesan and seasonings. Layer the pie crust alternately with several layers of onions and cheddar - ending with cheddar. Bake at 325 degrees F until cheese is light brown - about 1 hour.

**I did this with an unbaked crust and sliced the onions rather than chopping. It was DELICIOUS!

Veggie Wednesday: Pissaladièra

Pissaladièra

Pissaladière (pissaladiera in Provençal) is a beautiful onion tart from Nice that is typically made with sautéed onions on a 'pizza' crust and crisscrossed with anchovies and dotted with black olives before being baked. As fond as I am of anchovies, I don't like their tiny little bones and so, I make my pissaladière with a puree of anchovy and olive spread beneath the onions.

I made this yesterday and it was so delicious. My older girls raved about it and the almost-three- year-old ate his fair share as well. The rest of the kids (as can be expected) turned up their little noses and ate something else for dinner.

Printable Recipe

I use my own 'recipe' for pizza dough, which isn't a recipe at all; it's one of those things I throw together until it 'feels right'. The crust yesterday was superb, if I do say so myself. I can only share with you that it starts with one packet of dry yeast, a cup or so of warm water, about a 1/4 cup of oil (olive, if you have it!), a healthy pinch of sugar, a fair amount of salt and enough flour to make a pliable dough. Once the dough is formed, let it stand for about half an hour under a towel and in a warm spot in your kitchen. Punch it down and form into a 'pizza' round. I have a 16" pizza pan, and that was perfect.

The olive and anchovy paste is similar to tapenade, but not exact.

1 cup of pitted oil cured black olives
1 tablespoon anchovy paste
1 garlic clove

Blend this all together until a fine paste forms. Spread onto the pizza dough.

Before any of this, and while the pizza dough is rising, slice up 3 large yellow onions and mince 2 cloves of garlic. Sauté the onions in a large pan in olive oil until limp. Add the garlic, a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper and a tablespoon or so of sea salt. Continue sautéing until the onions begin to caramelize; don't overdo on the coloring.

Spread the onions over the olive and anchovy spread and top with more black olive halves. Bake in a hot (400 degree F) oven until the crust is browned.

R,S,C! #34 Recipe Links

*This post has been UPDATED to include another submission!

We have submissions! This month's game of Ready, Set, Cook! netted the following recipes from a couple of my very favorite food bloggers. Talent and resourcefulness is not in short supply with these two!

This from Krista at Going Gluten-Free:

Sour Cream Chicken & Mushrooms

and this From Ian at The Gallumphing Gourmand:

Flaky-Bakey Chicken Sammies

One more! One more! From dear Shaz at Adventures in Motherhood:

Creamy Chicken

Ready, Set, Cook! #34

Click the icon above for complete rules. What can you make of this?

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 onion, chopped
1/2 pint sour cream

See you next Tuesday with submissions!

R,S,C #27 Recipes

Today's first submission is from a new player,(we love those!) Casi at Finding My Inner Cook. Stop by and say hi. Her idea is:

Italian Stuffed Chicken

4 chicken breasts, flatten and cut in to make pocket
1/2 cup sweet onion; chopped (divided by 4)
1 cup diced Italian plum tomatoes (divided by 4)
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (divided by 4)
8 leaves of fresh basil (divided by 4)

In a heated pan with a little butter cook onion until it is translucent, remove from pan.
Fill chicken with the ingredients. Place in oven at 400 for 30 minutes (or until done).
I like to serve it with herb and butter pasta.

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

My thoughts on those ingredients:

Mexican Manicotti

1 lb. lean ground beef
1/2 cup sweet onion; chopped
1 (16 ounce) can re fried beans
3 teaspoons chili powder
3 teaspoons oregano
1 (8 ounce) package manicotti shells
2 1/2 cups water
1 cup diced Italian plum tomatoes
1 cup picante sauce
16 ounces sour cream
1 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1/4 cup sliced ripe olives

In bowl, mix uncooked beef, onions, beans, chili powder, and oregano. Spoon into
uncooked manicotti shells. Place in greased 13x9 baking pan. Mix water, tomatoes and sauce, pour over manicotti. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours. Remove from
refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Cover and bake at 350F for 1 hour.
Uncover; spoon on sour cream. Sprinkle with cheese, onions, and olives. Bake
for 8 minutes more.

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

...and the original recipe:

Buffalo Chicken Pizzas

olive oil
1 can (10 oz) refrigerated pizza crust
3 Tbsp butter or margarine
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast halves; cut into 1/2 in pieces
1/2 cup sweet onion; chopped
3 Tbsp hot pepper sauce
1 cup diced Italian plum tomatoes
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Heat oven to 425F. Lightly coat cookie sheet with olive oil.
Unroll dough. With sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut into
4 rectangles. Place rectangles on oiled cookie sheet;
press each to form 6x5-inch rectangle.

Melt butter in large skillet over medium-high heat.
Add chicken, onion, and hot pepper sauce;
cook 4 to 6 minutes or until chicken is no longer
pink in center, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat. Stir in tomatoes.

With slotted spoon, spoon mixture over dough to
within 1/4-inch of edges. Sprinkle evenly with cheese.

Bake at 425F for 13 to 16 minutes or until crust is
deep golden brown.

Ready, Set, Cook! #27

I am off and running today with a husband in oral surgery (general anesthesia, so I must be there to drive him home), one child home from school with a fever and a snowstorm coming so that school may be out early for the ones who went today...and I don't have a chauffeur!

So, today's 3 are yanked directly from a recipe I have on file. There's no meat, poultry or fish here, but remember, your virtual pantry is fully stocked. If you haven't played yet, click the button above for rules of play.

1/2 cup sweet onion; chopped
1 cup diced Italian plum tomatoes
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese