Game Day Recipe ~ Amish Onion Patties

Amish Onion Patties

Do you need a last-minute game day appetizer but don’t want to run to the store? Here’s a quick and easy recipe that is short on ingredients but HUGE on flavor! You more than likely have everything you need for this in your fridge and pantry. The taste is incredibly hard to describe, but they certainly were not what I expected. Like amped-up onion rings, only better.

I searched high and low on the interwebz for the origin of this recipe, but can only guess it’s from a printed Amish cookbook. I found it initially in my FB feed from a third party advertisement. I followed the recipe except for the amount of salt (I halved the salt, as written below) and the oil called for. When it came to cook the patties, I coated my hot cast iron skillet with a thin layer of oil, then replenished between batches. No need to deep-fry these puppies, they turn out great without all that extra fat!

My husband kept calling them potato patties. No, there are no potatoes in this. Well then they must have eggs in them! No sweetie, no eggs either. Pretty much just flour, milk, and LOTS of sweet onions. Even if you don’t watch the Big Game, you can still enjoy some Amish Onion Patties for any occasion!

Amish Onion Patties
Origins Unknown

3/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
2 1/2 cups chopped sweet onion (I used Walla Walla)
High heat oil, for cooking (I used grapeseed)

Dry Ingredients ~ I give you a boring flour shot just to prove that I DO cook with flour, on occasion.

Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add milk and stir to combine; the batter will be thick. Add the onions and mix thoroughly.

Onion Patty Batter

Heat a cast iron or heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add just enough oil to coat the bottom. Drop spoonfuls of onion batter into the skillet, then flatten with the back of a spatula.

Patties Ready to Flip

When the bottom is brown and crispy and releases easily from the skillet, flip over and brown the other side. Remove and drain on paper towels. This will take a few batches. Enjoy with your favorite sauce! I thought they were good enough on their own plain. I served these for dinner with my Garlic Parmesan Chicken Tenders, which were baked while cooking the patties.

Amish Onion Patties

Download and Print this Yummy Recipe!

 

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Food52 Community Pick: Fire-Roasted Hatch Chile and Serrano Pepper Salsa

Hatch Chile Fire-Roasted Salsa

I’m happy to announce I have made it to the Community Pick level in the Food52 contest again for one of my recipes! No need to vote at this time as that doesn’t happen unless it makes it to the final two.

You can head over there to read it here ———-> Fire-Roasted Hatch Chile and Serrano Pepper Salsa

I have hopes to post a new recipe for you later today before I head out tomorrow to visit some wonderful friends at their new ocean-view house they built on the coast of Yachats, Oregon. But if not, I have not left you high and dry for the week.

 

Sneak Preview ~ Diced! Competition

Crispy Reuben Roll-Ups

I have just found out (because I am so behind on my emails) that my entry for the Diced! online food cooking competition will be posted on Friday. So stay tuned. The most “Likes” on each recipe’s post for the week will move on to the next round. So I will wait until Friday to post that recipe and the link to the blog that you must “Like” in order for me to gain a vote. Please vote for me! This is an unabashed self-promoting post, lol.

Back story on this: I had to write a few sentences in an email to the host of this why I wanted to enter the competition. In short, I was selected to be a contestant. You are given three ingredients to cook a specified genre of food. The first was an appetizer, soup, or salad. The three ingredients to make something out of were Corned Beef, Corn Kernels, and Corn Flakes. So that is how I was inspired to make these Crispy Reuben Roll-Ups. And they were actually quite good! But you will have to wait for the Friday contest post to “read all about it.” 🙂

But do not go to that website and “like” any posts until you have reviewed all the recipes after Saturday, which is when the last recipe for the contest is posted. I mean, fair is fair, right? If you like someone else’s recipe better then by all means vote for that one. But, hey  c’mon. Vote for mine? XO

Baked Asparagus Fries with Roasted Garlic Lemon Dipping Sauce

Baked Asparagus Fries and Roasted Garlic Lemon Dipping Sauce

I am all about adapting, and I think anyone who’s followed my blog knows this by now. My husband came home with some more beautiful, thin asparagus yesterday, and I also happened across a Pinterest post for baked asparagus “fries” with various homemade dipping sauces. Not having half the ingredients on hand didn’t stop me though. I chose the sauce I could actually make without having to run to the store. The process of making this really wasn’t all that long or tedious. I just loved the way the house smelled after roasting the garlic! Both my husband and daughter came out of the woodwork to ask me what I was making as the aroma wafted into their respective hiding places. We had some leftover steak and lasagna to use up, so we all chowed on these fries with our main course of choice.

Roasted Garlic Lemon Dipping Sauce

1 egg yolk
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and black pepper to taste

Baked Asparagus Fries

1 egg white
1/2 bunch of fresh thin asparagus, washed and trimmed
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup fine seasoned bread crumbs (or seasoned Panko)
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
Black pepper to taste
Spray olive oil

If your asparagus is not thin, then I would recommend slicing them in half lengthwise. Both recipes above use one egg, so start out by separating the egg yolk and white into two separate bowls. Next, place 1 1/2 tablespoons of jarred minced garlic in a small oven-proof bowl and roast at 350 for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven, then using the back of a spoon, crush the minced garlic into a paste. Add it to the bowl with the egg yolk, mayonnaise, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and black pepper. (I broke down and did use a little sea salt in this, as it really needed it. I figured the amount of salt was minimal for my husband, especially since it would be used as just a dipping sauce.) Whisk really well until fully combined. Put it in the refrigerator for about an hour.

Meanwhile, relax and enjoy a beverage of choice for a bit while you preheat the oven to 425 degrees. After your refreshment, whisk that egg white in the other bowl until frothy. On a plate, combine the flour, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese,  garlic powder and pepper. Dip the asparagus spears into the egg white, then dredge through the bread crumb mixture until well coated. Place on  your largest spray-oil foil-lined baking sheet, then spray some more oil over all of them. You’ll lose some of the coating in this process, but don’t worry about it. Bake for 20 minutes. Serve with dipping sauce. It became apparent when I took them out of the oven I missed some spots with the oil, but nonetheless these were a HUGE hit!

Simple White Bean and Tuna Salad

White Bean and Tuna Salad

I am on my way out of town to visit some relatives with my sister, so I’m posting a very simple lunch I made last week when I was in a time crunch and had no leftovers I was interested in warming up. I spied a can of tuna in the pantry, and right next to it was a can of white beans. Bingo! I knew something could be whipped up with that combination. It made way more than I needed for lunch, so the leftovers made a tasty snack with crackers the next few days. Here is what I came up with:

White Bean and Tuna Salad

3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
Black pepper
Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb
1 can cannellini (white kidney) beans, rinsed
1 can solid white albacore tuna, drained
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried basil
Romaine lettuce

In a medium bowl, Whisk the lemon juice, oil and garlic. Season with pepper and Mrs. Dash to taste while whisking. Add the beans, tuna, onion, parsley and basil and mix well. Fresh herbs would be better I’m sure but I didn’t have any. Serve on a bed of romaine lettuce. As said before, this makes great leftovers with crackers. I snacked on it with Triscuits.

If You Can’t Smoke a Salmon…

Smoked Salmon

…then you’ve come to the right place.

Oh, I had a few zingers in mind to use instead, because I’m in a silly mood from working so many hours today. But the task at hand now is sharing my husband’s recipe for Smoked Salmon. As with the other recipes of his, I’ve only watched on the sidelines, however that first big fish I caught I did have a hand in the brining and smoking of it. We didn’t quite have all the ingredients in our RV for the brine that night, but after visiting a few camps on our summer place stretch, we were able to cobble together enough to get the job done that night so we could smoke some of the fish the next day. But I was so proud of that fish that it could have been brined with table salt and river water and I wouldn’t have cared. However, the recipe I give you is what he uses as his standard method. I can’t say this too many times, but just use the recipe as a guide and experiment with your individual taste preferences.

Smoked Salmon Brine

1/2 gallon of water
1/4 cup of Sea Salt (non-iodized)
1/4 cup of pineapple juice
1/4 cup of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon of garlic salt or granules

Salmon in Brine

After Brining Glaze

Mix 1/4 cup of honey with enough pineapple juice to make it the consistency of a barbecue sauce.

My husband is not a big fan of “fishy” tasting fish, and he’s come to the conclusion that if you leave any skin on the salmon prior to smoking or cooking it that it will taste that way. So any salmon we’ve ever smoked has been fileted without leaving the skin on it.

Mix the brine ingredients together, and pour over the salmon in a non-metallic sealable container to cover.  Let brine overnight or 8-10 hours.

First thing you need to do the next morning is get your wood chips soaking in beer or water. We have used both alder or mesquite chips, but favor the alder. Remove the salmon from the brine and lightly pat dry with paper towels. Place the salmon on a clean grill with a pan underneath, and let it air dry for one to two hours, until a nice glaze forms over the surface of the fish.

Forming the "Glaze"

Meanwhile, get the smoker or BBQ grill heated to a temp of about 150-180 degrees. If you are using a BBQ grill, make sure the salmon will be placed with indirect heat. A smoker will have the grill far enough away already.  Add a small amount of wood chips to the smoker at first, otherwise the salmon will infuse too much of the smoky taste. Now baste the salmon on both sides with the After Brining Glaze. Transfer the fish to the preheated smoker, and smoke the salmon for two to three hours, depending on the thickness. After the first hour, try to maintain a temperature of about 180-200 degrees. Add soaked wood chips as needed throughout. If some of the thinner edges of the salmon start to dry out and begin to look crispy, it’s probably time to take the fish off.  Let the salmon cool a bit, then eat as much as you want, plain or with our favored Triscuits and cream cheese. We then cut the leftovers into appetizer-sized chunks and vacuum pack and place in the refrigerator or freezer, depending on how soon we will be eating some again.

We’ve over-cooked our salmon a few times, but to tell you the truth, it has never bothered me. I also like to eat the burnt, crispy bits off a barbecued brisket, the best part! Look for that recipe in the future…Happy Fishing!