Pile 'em on.............

Onions, oft maligned, can become the star of the show if you prepare them with a little love and some time.  Raw onions can taste harsh, and can turn an entire dish into disposal fodder if you aren't careful.  Onions need to release some of their oil, then their sweetness comes to the fore, and they balance dishes with strong flavors with a bit of sweet flavor and texture.  Caramelizing onions, allows them to reduce down and become sweet, caramel-like and smoky, making them even more delicious.  The best news?  You don't have to stand over them and cook them for hours, just load up your slow cooker and let them do their thing.  You will be amazed at how easy this is, and how beautifully they turn out.  So pile them on burgers, pizza, flat breads, steak, pastas, and add a layer of caramelized onions to your next batch of mac and cheese.  These slow cooked onions freeze beautifully, and you can bring them out for additions to soups (French onion, anyone?) and stews.  One of my favorite dips is a caramelized onion and Gruyere dip that is terrific served warm with baguette slices, pita chips, or fresh veggies.  Try it for your NCAA Championship party tomorrow night! 

Caramelized Onions

Makes about 5 cups

Make sure to use sweet onions, like Vidalia, Walla Walla, Texas Sweets, 10/15’s or Maui onions; these onions are 6% sugar, and can only be labeled “sweet”.  Ordinary brown onions will give you a harsh flavored dish, where the sweet onions will yield sweet and buttery onions.  Once cooked the onions can be refrigerated for 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months. 

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil

2 tablespoons sugar

1 ½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Tabasco

1 teaspoon dried thyme

¼ cup chicken broth

6 large sweet yellow onions, sliced in half, and sliced in half moons

1. In an insert for a 5 to 7-quart slow cooker, combine the butter, oil, sugar, salt, Tabasco, thyme and chicken broth.  
2. Stir in the onions, and toss to coat with the butter mixture.  
3. Cover and cook on low for 10 to 12 hours, stirring several times during the cooking process, until the onions are golden brown, watching them at 10 hours, to make sure they don’t burn.
4. Remove the onions from the cooker, cool the onions and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or freeze for 2 months. 

Caramelized Onion and Gruyere Dip

Serves 8

3 cups cooled caramelized onions (see preceding recipe)

5 drops Tabasco

1 1/2 cups mayonnaise

3 cups shredded Gruyere cheese (or Emmenthaler or imported Swiss cheese)

1.       One round loaf of sourdough or French bread, top cut off, insides hollowed out leaving a 3/4 inch to 1-inch shell. 

2.     Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

     When the onions are cooled, stir in the Tabasco, mayonnaise and cheese. Transfer to the hollowed bread bowl, and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the dip is bubbly.  Serve with crudités, toasted bread cubes (from the inside of the bread) or crackers for dipping.   

Cook’s Note:  This is delicious made with Havarti with dill cheese and about 2 cups of lump crab added.

I'm in Bloomington with our son Ryan until I return to West Lafayette on Tuesday for two more classes, then it's on to DC and Pennsylvania for a bit of visiting and classes.  We are looking forward to the NCAA championship game tomorrow night.........go Bulldogs!  I'll be back with some more thoughts on food this week. 

Let them Eat Cake!

This weekend our granddaughter celebrated her first birthday, and our son celebrated his 30th birthday.  It got me thinking about birthday cakes, and how we celebrate birthdays. I know people who will spend weeks planning and executing amazing dinners, or children's birthday parties, only to have them turn into familial disasters that are talked about in hushed tones for years to come, or others who prepare a great casual celebration to mark milestones.  This weekend our granddaughters' birthday was perfect-- the menu was slow smoked pork shoulder from the Meat Hook in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn, and slow smoked brisket, rubbed generously with Big Bob Gibson's BBQ rub and smoked til it was melt in your mouth tender, served alongside potato rolls, slaw, and fresh corn on the cob.  Life doesn't get too much better than that when you are sharing a celebration with friends and family.  The cake is my favorite part---for our granddaughter we thought an ice cream cake (Carvel since her daddy worked for them in High School) would be perfect, and it was just the right cake for a first birthday---smeared to perfection over her hands and face. We actually weren't sure we would be able to get the blue food coloring off her hands!

For Ryan's 30th birthday the cake has been the same for years; a vanilla cake with a chocolate frosting.I managed to make this in our daughters' easy-bake-style oven in her teeny weeny kitchen. The cake is simple but oh so good, and gets better the next day for breakfast with a cold glass of milk. So even if it isn't your birthday, celebrate someones birthday today and eat a piece of cake!

Ryan is the founder of RumorsandRants.com, hence the soccer players on the cake!

Ryan's Happy Birthday Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Makes two 9-inch layers, or about 36 cupcakes (and a zillion mini cupcakes)


3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar4 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 recipe Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting


1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Coat two 9-inch round baking pans with nonstick cooking spray.


2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.


3. In a 4 cup measuring cup, beat together the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla.


4. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour and milk mixture to the mixing bowl, and beat until smooth. Add the baking powder, salt and soda, stirring to blend.


5. Pour the mixture into the prepared pans, and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until the cakes are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean.


6. Transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the pans, and cool completely before frosting. (At this point the cakes can be frozen for up to 2 months)

Chocolate Frosting

Makes enough to frost two 9-inch cakes






3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup sour cream, plus extra to thin the frosting if needed

1. Stir together the sugar and cocoa in the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl.
2. Beat in the vanilla, butter, and sour cream on medium-high speed until the mixture reaches a spreading consistency. Add more sour cream if the frosting is too thick.