Beer Battered Vidalia Onion Rings

 

Another Tuesday gem for you guys – the most delicious onion rings this side of Burger King (I always really liked Burger King O.R’s UNTIL I had these!)

Tuesday nights I usually don’t get home from the gym until around 8, so Dave is usually nice enough to take care of dinner.  There’s a lot of things I love about Dave, heck that’s why I married him right? HOWEVER, one of the things I DON’T love is his tendency to start these intricate meals invovling numerous steps and ingredients 8 o’clock at night, leaving us eating dinner for what seems like breakfast. 

I don’t know about all of you but I get pretty grumpy when I’m hungry – and when I’ve just been at the gym, all I want when I get home is dinner ready and on the table, even if it’s sandpaper with peanut butter on it. So when I called Dave on my way home around 7:30, I was anticipating that he’d say “oh hello dear, how was the gym? I hope you’re starving because I have dinner hot and ready when you get home”  – Instead, he said “Actually, I’m on my way home from Market Basket right now – and I’m making pan seared scallops with fried vidalia onion rings and some sort of side dish with Kale”.  As I heaved a huge sigh and a stomach rumble, I started chewing on my fingers, knowing that this ambitious meal might not be eaten til’ sunrise.  I got pretty snappy with Dave, and having the patience of a saint, he replied in a calm, cool and collective manner  “You’re mean when you’re hungry”.

So I get home – the kitchen in shambles, being assured that we’d be eating by 8:30 (clock then reading 7:55) and I watched Dave shuffle around the kitchen with every pot, pan and kitchen tool that we own in use.  I think he was pretending like he was on Chopped (one of our favorite Food Network shows) – only the challenge was not to cook a meal in 1/2 hour and impress a panel of expert judges, but his ravenous wife who was giving him death stares as she shoved tortilla chips in her mouth.

I must say though, the dinner was worth the wait – and on the table by 8:46 p.m! Delcious seared scallops and sauteed Kale, which we had never had before, but both really loved – it retained a nice crunch, unlike spinach which can get soggy when you saute it.

But, the best part of the meal was by far the onion rings – O.M.G – now I know pretty much everything dipped and batter and fried is amazeballs, but these just tasted so good.  Sweet vidalia onions battered in an adaptaion of the batter we used for our Fish and Chips – delicious.  A great summer time (or any time) side dish! 

Beer Battered Vidalia Onion Rings

INGREDIENTS

Vegetable or Canola Oil

1 large Vidalia Onion, sliced into rings

3/4 cups of flour

1/4 cup of cornstarch

3 tsp of baking powder

1 cup of Lager beer (we used Victory Hop Devil)

Salt and pepper for seasoning

1) Fill a shallow pan 2/3 way full with oil and let heat for about 5-10 minutes, until you can see the oil rippling

2)  Mix flour, corn starch, baking powder and beer together in a mixing bowl.

3) Season the sliced onion rings with salt and pepper.

4) Place the seasoned rings in the batter and then drop in the hot oil.

5) Let the onion rings cook in the oil for 2-3 minutes, until they really start turning golden brown.  You don’t want to take them out too early because the onion won’t cook.  Don’t be nervous if you start to think they’re getting too brown – you want the onions to cook too.

6) Place onion rings on a paper towel lined plate and sprinkle with salt.

7) Serve hot!

Unlike the Fish and Chips, we found that the onion rings were best when just placed in the wet batter, vs. dry then wet then dry again.  These were so tasty, you didn’t even need ketchup or a dipping sauce. 

So all’s well that ends well on a Tuesday night in the Schoon household – we didn’t file for divorce, we ate a delicous dinner before 9 o’clock and as an apology for being a crab apple, I did all the dishes 🙂