Steakhouse Onion Rings

When you can't cook, and the mere task of mixing macaroni and cheese out of a box seems daunting, there are certain things you assume you can never do.

You can never bake a cake. You can never cook a turkey (still haven't!). You could never make homemade onion rings.

But take a look at me now! When you met me, I was in that sorry state and now, a year and some change later, I'm making my own damn onion rings! Hoo-ra!

And guess what? SO easy. Seriously. Take the journey with me.

First off, you're going to want to find a shallow bowl and fill it with two cups of milk and a large egg. Whisk it together until the little egg bits are no more.

Then you will want to slice up an onion. I used a red one and a white one because that is what I had. The Food Network recipe I used, however, recommends red ones.

When you've sliced your onions into rings, plop them into the milk mixture to soak for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix up 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of cornstarch and about a teaspoon of salt. When you feel ready, you might want to take this opportunity to pull out a heavy-bottom pan or pot and fill the bottom with 4 inches of vegetable oil. Turn it up as high as it goes. It is scary how hot it needs to be.

When 30 minutes have passed, take off your rings and get ready to get messy. Pull the onion rings out of the milk/egg mix and dip into the flour mixture to coat. Then do a quick dip back in the milk and coat in flour again. Set aside on a paper towel until you're ready to fry.

Your hands will accidentally get batter-dipped (Yes, that is my new Kitchen-Aid in the background!!!). You will have to wash them off intermittently.

Eventually, you'll have flour'd onion rings ready to fry.

Using kitchen tongs, drop the onion rings into the oil and let them fry until golden brown. Then pull 'em back out.

Place the onion rings on a paper towel-covered dish and sprinkle with salt. Aren't they gorgeous?

And then, once you've eaten, convince your spouse/roommate/whomever to clean up the tidal pool of nasty that's collected in the bottom of your pot. Be sure to put the oil in a jar or coffee can, rather than down the sink!!

These were awesome; flavorful but not overly greasy. Deep-frying is a deep guilty pleasure for me, so I have to be sure to use this technique sparingly, although I'm already planning on experimenting with beer batter.