Onion Rings

Occasionally, I get the harebrained idea to make the messiest foods I can possibly make. You other cooks know what I mean - the foods that are not messy to eat but leave your kitchen covered in flour and the floor crunchy. That was me yesterday. When I made the menu for this week, I was trying to keep it interesting and, since we have been eating SOOOO healthy lately, one of the meals I decided to make was Shake & Bake chicken (surprisingly, one of hubby's favorites) and onion rings with remoulade sauce. I should probably blame this event on Rachael Ray , since last week, she had a segment on making restaurant-tasting foods at home and onion rings were included.

Anyhow, as many of you know, I started Weight Watchers in January 2007. Along the journey to lose my weight (50 lbs in all), I decided that, as a foodie, I needed to keep my mouth happy if I was going to be successful and I set out to recreate my favorite foods in a way that they would fit in the program (or at least be a little healthier) AND satisfy my cravings. All I can say is thank God for the internet. There are a lot of recipes out there so I did my research then took that knowledge into my kitchen and experimented and came up with what works for me and my taste buds (not too worried about my husband. you remember the "mikey likes it" kid? yeah, i am pretty much married to that guy - even the name is right!). We love appetizers so occasionally we crave fried zucchini and onion rings. In our house, thanks to our lifestyle, just ground beef actually means veggie crumbles and fried actually means baked in the oven. It works - mouth is happy, weight stays down, pants still fit :-)

I have tried many many different ways to get the bread crumbs to stick to the onion rings - water, egg, milk. Last week, I watched Rachael and her segment had a new trick to try, so I did. I think her recipe called for frying the onion rings since the recipe called for vegetable shortening. But I don't really know since I stopped reading after the part I was looking for - the breading part. Any how, it seems this recipe is pretty much a batter-dipped onion ring - or at least it gets to be that way at the end when the milk turns into a milk-and-flour gloop. OK, enough chatter, you're bored with me, I know. Here is the recipe (Rachael's inspiration and my changes):

ONION RINGS
Ingredients:

• White or sweet onions (# depends on how many people you need to serve)
• Milk
• Flour
• Breadcrumbs
• Pam spray

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  
• Put milk, flour & breadcrumbs into 3 different bowls (one thing in each bowl people, they will get mixed up enough on their own during the process)
• cover a cookie sheet or baking pan with aluminum foil & spray with Pam spray
  
• Slice onion into 1/2 slices and separate the rings
• dip each ring in the following order: milk, flour, milk, flour, milk, breadcrumbs and then place in a single layer on the baking sheet
• When the baking sheet is full or all your onion rings are breaded and on said sheet, whichever comes first, place sheet in oven and bake until crunchy on the outside & soft inside (you should be able to squeeze them and they will give. be careful if you try my technique of testing by eating - they are HOT!)

I think the key here is the double flouring. At least that's what the guy on the Rachael Ray show who did it says. And I know that they definitely were crunchier than when I only did 1 dip or when I didn't use the flour at all.

REMOULADE SAUCE (for those who like it)
Ingredients:

• Mayo or Miracle Whip
• Mustard (i used horseradish mustard)
• Ketchup
• Horseradish (just a dash - that stuff is strong!! omit if you don't like this or if you use horseradish mustard)

Directions:
Unfortunately, since I don't measure anything, all of the ingredients are "to taste" except the mayo, which is the base of the sauce. Use as much of this as you think you will need sauce. Actually, use a little less since the other stuff will fill it in.

• Mix all ingredients in a bowl until you get the color and flavor you like (since I am trying to recreate Outback's remoulade sauce, this is my guide and I try to make it taste like that).
• Chill for at least 1 hour to let flavors mingle