Recipe: Tumbleweed or Fried Onion

ONION BLOSSOM
From: Southern Living

1 lg. Vidalia or other sweet onion
2 tbls all-purpose flour
1 lg. egg, lightly beaten
1 cup saltine cracker crumbs
Vegetable oil
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
Commercial dark honey-mustard or Ranch-style salad dressing

Peel onion, leaving root end intact. cut onion vertically into quarters, cutting to within 1/2 inch of root end. Cut each quarter vertically into thirds.

Place onion in boiling water 1 minute; remove and place in ice water 5 minutes. Loosen "petals" if necessary. Drain onion, cut side down.

Place flour in a zip-top plastic bag; add onion, shaking to coat. dip onion in egg.

Place cracker crumbs in plastic bag; add onion, tossing to coat. chill 1 hour.

Pour oil to depth of 3 inches into an electric fryer or heavy saucepan and heat to 375 degrees.

Fry onion 5 to 7 minutes or until golden brown' drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt, if desired.

Serve onion with dark honey-mustard of Ranch-style salad dressing.

Yield: 2 servings