NOTE: If interested in Day 3 in DC and our trip to NE, MD, continue to the post following this one…or click HERE. If here for CEimB…read on friends…
This weeks CEimB recipe is Oven Baked Onion Rings. Thinking of Ted, who doesn’t like onion rings, I used 3 vegetables for this dish: Green and Orange Bell Peppers, Vidalia Onion (as called for in the recipe), and Zucchini. The zucchini of course, was not cut into rings but “sticks”. The recipe was chosen by Mary Ann of Meet Me In The Kitchen. Check out her blog for the complete details. She always puts up a great post!
Ellie Krieger Author of “The Food You Crave” (the book we use for most recipes) is a new hero in this house. Two recipes in a row – total winners! Ted EVEN SAID HE LIKE THE ONIONS! Can you believe it?!
We had 5 taste testers for this recipe. Ted, Dad, Mum, Teddy, and myself. All of us…thumbs up! Terrific… but then, who really doesn’t like potato chips? – fried or baked?! This is how popular this dish was…
Here are my ingredients with changes from original recipe in RED.
- Silpat mat for most of the veggies used to bake them in the oven (I used a foil lined sheet for some extra veggies sprayed with non-stick and they stuck. It was a good thing I used the Silpat).
- 4 cups baked potato chips (used 5 1/2 cups due to extra veg.)
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper.
- 1 cup low-fat buttermilk (not sure if this was a substitution or not, I used powdered buttermilk, added water to reconstitute.
- 1/2 cup plus 2 TBS flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground pepper
- 1 green pepper, sliced in 1/2″ rings
- 1 orange pepper, sliced in 1/2″ rings
- 1 Vidalia onion, sliced in 1/2″ rings
- 1 zucchini, sliced in 1/4″ sticks
I prepared the recipe as directed except of course for the buttermilk powder. I reconstituted 1 1/4 cups of it.
As the potato chips began to clump up from getting wet due to the dipping from the buttermilk to the chips, it became impossible for them to stick to the veggie. I then took the remaining veggies which were in a bag with the flour, poured the remaining buttermilk on top, poured in the clumping chips and tossed around. I then put this batch on the foiled lined sheet which was sprayed with non-stick. You could tell by this move I was getting pretty fed up with the whole dipping thing. This batch stuck to the pan.
The results of this recipe:
1. It was SO good. Everyone loved their veggie rings. No detailed comments, just …”these are really good”.
2. The veggies cooked on the Silpat sheets were perfect. They did not stick and browned evently.
3. The veggies cooked on foil sprayed with non-stick (as directed in the recipe) stuck to the pan. But…they were still really good.
The 1/2 tsp of cayenne was just right for this recipe. Not too hot, just a hint of heat.
With everything else I had on for this day (I made this recipe on Saturday the 18th), it went smoothly and quickly and we paired it with creamed spinach (my version), vegetarian sausages and regular sweet italian sausages for the meat eaters.
Great pick Mary Ann!
NOTE: Dear CEimBers…We are vacationing this week in DC and Chesapeake Bay so I most likely won’t get to see your wonderful pictures and detailed posts until I return. Take care and hope you all enjoyed these veggie rings as much as we did.
I had the same problem as you with the clumping of the chips in the milk. I thought it was because I didn’t use buttermilk. But these were just soooo tasty. We loved them. Sounds like you are having a fun summer!!
I used a silpat too, they came out perfectly! What a great idea to use extra veggies. Nice work!
How did I not think to dump it all in the bag once I got tired of dipping?? Hmm.. definitely going to keep this in mind next time my hands are getting all gucky 🙂 I also like the idea of using peppers and zucchini – I think those would have been more popular here as well.
Love seeing all your vacation pics – looks like you guys are having fun!
“zucchini of course, was not cut into rings but “sticks””
That gave me a great idea. Why not make zucchini rings? Cut them into rounds with ring molds and then cut out the inside with a smaller ring mold. BRILLIANCE!!!
Glad you liked these, we eat them ALL the time, though only with onions. This is the second time today I’ve seen them with veggies and I’m sad to say the thought never even crossed my mind until now.
Popular contest we here, I missed out! These look great!
These look amazing! Have a fun vacation!
Great idea about the additional veggies!
Enjoy your vacation!
Love the array of veggies. I seriously never even considering using anything besides onions, but I sure am going to now.
Hope you are enjoying your time in our neck of the woods!
Great idea with the veggies. I liked this, though found it messy to make, so I like your idea so I won’t have clumps on my fingers. Hope you had a good time on vacation!