Pioneer Woman's Onion Strings

As is usual for almost every Labor Day weekend since Jason and I have been together, he worked a Christian youth retreat known as Chrysalis.  Although the prospect of spending Friday through Monday without my best pal was a little disheartening, my mom and dad did a great job of helping to keep me entertained, and Mom and I also spent hours setting up, dowloading, and teaching Gran all about her new iPad (jealous).

The upside (though minimal) to Jason being gone is that I am able to cook foods he doesn't like, without any guilt or need to cook something extra to appease him. 

Therefore, after watching The Pioneer Woman's new Food Network program, I was inspired, started searching her blog, and came across this recipe for onion strings.  While I do not love raw onions, if you cook or fry or otherwise make them soft or crunchy or somehow unhealthy, I could eat my weight in them.  My favorite have always been the onion straws from Ruby Tuesday, but I was told last time that they no longer serve them.  :(  What better time, then, to learn to make them myself?  :)

You can see the above link for all of PW's photos and details, but here are a few of my photos and the results of my first time ever making onion straws, Pioneer Woman style (the recipe and instructions just below this paragraph came straight from PW's blog, but the photos and comments below the recipe are mine):

Ingredients

• 1 whole Large Onion
• 2 cups Buttermilk (I had no buttermilk, so I used regular milk...see her blog, link above, for details)
• 2 cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 Tablespoon (scant) Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon (to 1/2 Teaspoon) Cayenne Pepper
• 1 quart (to 2 Quarts) Canola Oil
• Black Pepper To Taste

Preparation Instructions

Slice onion very thin. Place in a baking dish and cover with buttermilk and soak for at least an hour.
Combine dry ingredients and set aside.
Heat oil to 375 degrees.
Grab a handful of onions, throw into the flour mixture, tap to shake off excess, and PLUNGE into hot oil. Fry for a few minutes and remove as soon as golden brown.
Repeat until onions are gone.
Eat before your family sees them.
Repeat with another onion, because they’ll be really mad they didn’t get any.

For me, this process really was just as easy as she said it would be.  I let the onions soak longer than an hour, because of an unexpected trip out of the house, but I don't think it hurt them at all.

I should have sliced them a bit more thinly, but my knife wasn't as sharp as it needed to be.

flour mixture

soaking in milk (since I had no buttermilk)

coating the onions

trying not to set off the smoke alarm while frying

Finished, crispy product!

They turned out to be nice and crispy, despite the fact that I did burn the first batch a little too much (I don't fry very often.).  After the first mistake, I got the hang of how long to leave them in to make them golden without burning them.

My only complaint/thing I would change for next time would be to reduce or completely remove the use of cayenne pepper.  I am not opposed to spicy foods, but even the small amount I used (1/4 teaspoon) gave me a little bit more of a kick than I was looking for.  However, once I dipped them in some cool ketchup, the flavor was just about perfect.

All in all, it was an easy, fun recipe, and I got to enjoy some yummy fried onions with any complaints from Jason...about the onion or my breath.  :)