Zucchini and onions
4 steps to a satisfactory level of crispiness!
Hot Sizzle
Today I had a craving for onion rings, but I wanted to experiment by making them grain-free and fried in healthy fats. I've actually had this idea on my to-do list for oh... probably a month now?... but I finally got around to putting them together. Typical me.
So the idea was to avoid the flour-based batter usually used to dip onion rings. Side note: I went to a new grocery store in town (+1 point), tried pork rinds for the first time (+1 point), did not like the pork rinds at all (-1 point), and decided I needed to find a purpose for the rest of the bag (+1 point). I think I'm ahead here. I crushed the pork rinds as fine as I could (how hard can I hit the counter with my marble rolling pin?) and set them aside on a plate. I also poured out some coconut flour on another plate. Good deep frying technique involves dipping your item in an egg wash, then in a powdery dusting, then usually back in the egg wash and finally in the crumb coat.
After getting my cast iron pot set up with a very generous portion of coconut oil (1/2 cup?) and a few tablespoons of butter for flavor. Another side note: did you see the previous post? I've never head of an Amish butter roll. I just had to get it when I saw it at the new grocery store today (+1 point). It was from a family-owned creamery in Wisconsin and their main product is this butter roll... cool! So anyway, I melted the fats in the pan, whisked two eggs to place on another plate, and gathered up my sliced vegetables. I flipped them once or twice in the egg, one by one, then tossed them with the coconut flour, then back in the eggs, and then dredged them through the crushed pork rinds. I let them fry for about a minute on each side.
The onions were the best! I didn't like the zucchini very much... I think I would need to season the crumb coat if I made them again. And I actually liked the onions better without the coconut flour step. The pork rinds seemed to stick just fine to the first egg wash, and they fried up so crispy! I couldn't believe how similar the taste was to my favorite fast food onion rings. A little messy, but pretty easy to make overall, especially with the deep-sided cast iron. I love my pans!
This will be my go-to recipe for satiating my fried food cravings.... and using up any random bags of pork rinds.
Pork Rinds? I've never bought them, mostly because they don't sound very healthy. So it makes me smile that you substituted them for grains... But I do bet they were better than breading, more crispy as you said. Hmm... perhaps I should go out on a limb and try this new idea?
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