February 4, 2008

"Sweet!!!"




A few months ago I entered a Vidalia Onion contest. I luvvvv me some Vidalia Onions! My wonderful late father-in-law used to order a crate of them in the spring from Georgia or some southern State or another (where is Al Gore from??), and he’d give us lots of them, which I would eat just raw, in a mayonnaise sandwich. Sounds disgusting, right? Well, you just haven’t LIVED RIGHT until you have an onion sandwich! Which reminds me of nephew Bobby’s anchovy sandwiches…but, I digress.



So, I entered the contest, and to my great delight I was in the top 10. I got a groovy little onion trivet! Who can claim that, huh??? It’s cool!





The winning recipe submitted by Kelly McWherter from Texas intrigued me. “Sweet Vidalia Sliders” It sounded so good. Anything with meat, brie cheese, and onions is captivating. So I kept that recipe close, thinking I’d cook up those little sliders sometime.

We didn’t have a big deal planned for Super Bowl, but I’ve been so busy and distracted, that I NEEDED to get in the kitchen and fiddle around. I thought Kelly’s recipe would be perfect for Super Bowl viewing. So I tucked my husband into the couch with his remote and comforter, and got to it. And, wowza! That Vidalia Onion Committee knew what they were doing! Those are some AWESOME little burgers! We loved them and (totally out of character for me) I wouldn’t change a thing. Maybe smash them down a bit to cook faster, but nothing else. I’ve cooked a few winning recipes from other contests and frankly, (no sour grapes, I promise) some just don’t seem to be that special. But this one is a keeper.



Congratulations, Kelly! You flat out earned that win! Rather than post the recipe here, I’ve linked it above…saves bandwidth! I’m all about saving the environment, you know.






BTW, my recipe is down toward the bottom of the page...my trivet winning “Caramelized Vidalia Onion Waffles with Smoked Salmon and Lemon-Caper Sour
Cream Sauce"

6 comments:

Joe said...

Congrats on that cool trivet! Your waffle looks tempting!

Catherine Wilkinson said...

Thanks Joe! I'll take trivets, key rings, whatever! It all keeps me motivated! And those waffles are pretty dang good!

Emily said...

I've always wanted a Vidalia onion trivet. You're lucky. You deserve it with that waffle recipe.

The sliders look good, too. I LOVE Brie.

Is Al Gore from Georgia? It's either Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, or Mississippi. I'm going with Mississippi.

Jenny said...

Yum Catherine!
I am such a huge burger fan! Those burger look delish and your waffle recipe sounds superb. That onion trivet is too cute! Have a great day!

Jenny said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Catherine,

Thanks for the compliment to the Committee--it was wonderful tasting each of the top ten, but Kelly's recipe really was a stand-out (and I can promise you we judges did not discuss our preferences until after all the judging sheets were in!!) We actually hired a chef to prepare the winning recipe at a huge produce convention last October--and the line for the burgers was 50feet long for two days!

Also glad you like the trivet--the engraver is still mad at me about that apparently difficult project!

Two notes--be sure you and your friends buy real Vidalia onions whenever possible--we're available from late April through around September. And, yes, we by state and federal law can only be grown in 20 counties in south Georgia (not sure where but Al's not from here) where the soil and climate make our onions sweet and tasty. Also, you may want check your link to the recipe--I was having trouble pulling it up this morning.

Your friends can get your delicious waffle recipe, Kelly's burger recipe, and more tasty Vidalia ideas at www.VidaliaOnion.org.

Great to read your blog!

Wendy Brannen
Executive Director
Vidalia Onion Committee
VidaliaOnion.org

 
Creative Commons License
"The Dish" by Catherine Wilkinson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.