Baked Zucchini Sticks with Caramelized Onion Dip

GAH! I am so sorry that it has been so long since I've posted any recipes. My life has been so crazy that I haven't had time for blogging! Anyway... I'm going to make up for it by posting a bunch of recipes I've tried out lately. As we all know, late summer/early fall is zucchini season. As soon as I whipped up something with one zucchini, there would be three more in my garden. Here is one recipe that became a hit at my house. You can find the original recipe from King Arthur Flour here. Just a side note, I make the dip while the zucchini drains in the sink.

Baked Zucchini Sticks with Caramelized Onion Dip

Yield: about 3 dozen sticks

Dip:

1 T butter

1 medium sweet onion, about 1/2 pound, peeled and sliced

2 T cider vinegar

2 T honey

1 T prepared mustard

1 C mayonnaise

Salt and pepper to taste

Zucchini Sticks

3 medium zucchini, unpeeled, cut into 3" long sticks

1 T salt

1 C panko bread crumbs

1/2 C grated Parmesan cheese

1 T Italian seasoning

Olive oil spray

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1. To make dip: Melt butter in a frying pan over medium heat, and add sliced onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion softens, then caramelize. This should take between 10 to 15 minutes. The lower the heat, the longer it takes, but the less likely you are to burn the onions.

2. Once onions are a medium brown, remove from the heat and add vinegar.

3. Place onions and vinegar into a small food processor. Add honey and mustard, and process and blend until smooth.

4. Add mayonnaise and salt and pepper to taste, stirring to combine. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to serve.

5. To make zucchini sticks: Place zucchini sticks in a colander over a bowl and sprinkle with the tablespoon salt. Let the zucchini drain for 1 hour or longer; rinse and pat dry.

6. Combine panko, Parmesan and Italian seasoning; set aside.

7. Preheat oven to 425F. Line a baking sheet with parchment, and spray parchment with olive oil.

8. Dredge sticks a few at a time in the egg, then roll in crumb mixture. Place sticks on baking sheet.

9. Bake sticks for 12 minutes, turn over, and bake for another 8 minutes until golden-brown and crisp.

10. Serve immediately with sweet onion dip.

Sumptuous, Slow-Cooker French Onion Soup

The first time I ever had French onion soup was my senior year in high school. My now husband was my boyfriend at the time and had secretly made a romantic, 5 course meal for me. After a fresh green salad, he brought out piping hot, homemade French onion soup.

I was a bit apprehensive, I mean, it's a soup that tastes like onion, for heavens sake! One bite, however and the food angels sang, confirming that, not only was it a soup made from onions, it was a delicious soup made from onions!

This isn't the recipe that my husband used that night, but it is fabulously tasty and is a snap to make! Even though this is a slow-cooker recipe, it can be ready in as little as four hours (which is pretty fast for a slow-cooker). The onions come out so tender and the broth is so flavorful, you'll have to have a second helping!


Ingredients:

5 small onions, thinly sliced (be sure to use white or yellow onions, not red onions for this recipe)
2 cans (14 oz) beef broth (I mush prefer to use a low sodium variety so I can control the amount of salt that goes into my soup)
2 cans (10 oz) beef consomme
1/2 water
1 packet of dry onion soup mix
8-10 slices French bread, cut about 1 inch thick
1 cup grated Gruyere (if you can't find Gruyere cheese, you can substitute Provolone or Mozzarella)


Directions:
1. In a slow-cooker, stir together broth, consomme, water, and soup mix. Mix until combined.
2. Add onions to broth mixture. Give a quick stir to coat onions.
3. Cook on HIGH setting for 4 hours or LOW setting for 8 hours.
4. Portion soup into oven safe bowls. Place a slice of French bread on top of each bowl and sprinkle bread with shredded cheese.
5. Put soup bowls under the broiler in the oven until cheese is melted, about 30-60 seconds.
6. Serve warm.

NOTE: If you don't have oven safe bowls or don't want to be transporting soup to and from the oven (with my episodes of clumsiness, this is often a recipe for steaming hot disaster), you can place the bread slices on a cookie sheet, top with cheese, broil, and then move a slice to each bowl of soup once cheese is melted.