Crispy Onion Straws with horseradish dipping sauce

Onion straws are something that I have wanted to make for a very long time but I was always afraid.  I am not even sure what exactly I was afraid of, but now that I have done it I am HOOKED!  This is something that I love to get at restaurants, but now I can make them at home!

Ingredients:

• Large onion
• 1 Cup Butter Milk
• 1 Cup of Flour
• 2 Cayenne Pepper
• About 3 Cups of Canola or Vegetable Oil

Sauce

• 1 1/2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1/4 cup mayo
• A few dashes of paprika
• pinch of oregano
• A few dashes of cayenne pepper
• A few dashes of garlic powder
• About a teaspoon of horseradish

Slice the onion into thin pieces.  I did this by hand because I don't have (but I want one) a mandolin but that would work best.  The thin pieces are what make is more of a "straw".  

Place onions in a flat dish and pour the buttermilk over top of them.  Place in refrigerator for about an hour.
To make the dipping sauce, simply combine ingredients and stir.  Adjust spices as necessary.

On a plate, combine the flour and cayenne pepper

Heat oil in fryer or as I did in a large pot.  I used about 3 cups of oil, but you really just want to make sure you have about 2 inches of oil.  Heat the oil to about 350 degrees.  I don't have a thermometer so I just tossed in a very small pinch of the flour mix and once it sizzled as it touched the oil I knew it was hot enough.

With a pair of tongs, remove the onions from the buttermilk and place one bunch at a time into the flour mix and completely coat.

Tap off extra flour and drop into hot oil and drop onions in the oil and cook for about 2 minutes or until they are a nice golden brown.

Remove from oil with tongs or mesh strainer and place on paper towel to drain off excess oil.  Repeat until all onions are cooked.  Serve immediately with the spicy dipping sauce.

I served these with Pocket Burgers and Deviled Eggs

This recipe was featured on our 30 Days of Dinners June Menu, Make sure to check out all of the other great recipes on this month's menu!

Green Waldorf Salad with Honey Yogurt Dressing

Waldorf Salad was always a staple at family barbecues and picnics growing up. I don't see it as much anymore but there is a sort of nostalgia that it brings to a cook-out. So when we were planning our meal for tonight and we were planning on grilling the meat and potatoes, I thought of waldorf salad. However, we did not want your traditional, mayonnaise-heavy salad. We thought we'd turn it into a "green" salad and put the ingredients over a bed of lettuce. From there we thought we'd do a creamy vinaigrette, but decided we'd use greek yogurt versus mayo to keep it healthier. It was the perfect compliment to our spring cook-out!

First make the dressing.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon plain greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup canola oil

Mix all ingredients except the oil in a food processor and mix until well blended.  Add the oil in last and blend well.  Chill for 30 minutes.

Now chop up the ingredients for your salad. You can realty use whatever lettuce you have on hand, but we chose to use a blend of romaine and spinach.

Salad ingredients:

• Romaine lettuce and baby spinach
• Peeled and chopped Red Apples
• Grapes
• Celery
• Pecans
• Blue Cheese Crumbles

For the salad, use the amount of ingredients that you prefer for your salad. I like an even mix of lettuce to spinach and lots of cheese! But keep the cheese to a minimum if you are going the lighter route. The celery has quite a bite to it, so I recommend only using a small palmful of chopped celery. Lightly toss your salad in the dressing and serve. Yum!

We served this with Grilled Bourbon Pork Medallions and Rosemary Chive Grilled Potatoes.

This recipe was featured on our Appetizing April Menu. Check out the entire April menu for a variety of dinner ideas!