There was a lot of cooking going on this weekend at our house. Some were misses - like the graham crackers that were more like shortbread and the coconut marshmallows that were a bit too gooey after a day.
The hit for us were the onion rings.
My husband had mentioned that it would be nice to grill up some burgers this weekend. This meant, however, that we had to clean the grill after a long winter which was a pretty big job. After all that scrubbing and bad cookie baking and marshmallow making I was rather tired. Even though I had wanted to make onion rings to go with our burgers, I nearly decided that we could do without the homemade onion rings and maybe buy a bag of frozen at the store instead. Fortunately, good taste prevailed and we enjoyed a few too many delicious onion rings with our dinner.
It's actually an easy dish to make. Slice up some onions. Whisk together a few ingredients in a bowl. Heat the oil. Dip the onions in the batter and fry.
Dealing with the leftover oil and scrubbing the oil splattered stove is less fun, but worth it for an occasional fried treat.
We dipped our rings in some spicy ketchup. I simply stirred together about 1/3 C of ketchup with 2 T sherry vinegar, 1 t Worcestershire sauce, 1 t sugar, 1/2 t smoked paprika and 3 T finely minced onion. It was a nice spicy dip that went nicely with the sweet onions.
Simple Onion Rings
a Short Attention Span Girl original
1 large onion, cut into 1/4" slices and separated into rings
1 C all purpose flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking powder
3/4C club soda
oil for frying
salt
If the onion is particularly hot, soak onion slices in cold salted water while preparing the batter.
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder. Slowing whisk in the club soda until a thin batter is formed.
In a skillet, pour the oil in to measure 1 inch deep. Heat over medium to 365 degrees.
Dip an onion ring into the batter. Allow the excess batter to drip off and then carefully place in the hot oil. Fry until golden brown, turning so both sides cook evenly.
Remove onion rings to paper towels to drain. Sprinkle with salt.
Onion rings may be held in a 250 degree oven to keep warm while remaining onions are cooked.
printable version - onionrings.pdf
-- marcella
We love onion rings at our house too, and we're always tinkering with the batter to try to get it just right... thin enough to be crispy instead of bready, but thick enough so it's more than just a skim coat on the onions. These look just perfect.