Memorial Day Weekend & An Onion Ring Recipe

Oh the irony of life sometimes.  I had been waiting for this 3-day weekend to come for the longest time, and Friday night into Saturday I caught a cold.  It's been a fairly miserable-feeling weekend to say the least.  We did manage to cook a nice dinner at home Saturday night.  It's kind of our goal to try at least one new recipe a weekend.  In a recent Real Simple, there's a recipe for baked onion rings.

I'm not really a fan of ranch dressing, so I skipped that part of the recipe.  The rings are pretty seasoned, so we didn't even need a dipping sauce.  They came out great (and guilt-free!), and definitely a repeat recipe.  We paired them with filet medallions.   

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup olive oil (I definitely used less than this, but you can use this as an estimate)
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 small sweet onion (such as Vidalia or Walla Walla), sliced and rings separated

Directions

1. Heat oven to 450° F. Toss the bread crumbs with 2 tablespoons of the oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Bake on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing once, until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a shallow bowl. Place the flour and eggs each in separate shallow bowls.
2. Rub the remaining oil on 2 rimmed baking sheets. Dip the onion rings in the flour and eggs (letting any excess drip off), then coat with the bread crumbs, pressing gently to help them adhere. Bake on the prepared baking sheets, turning once, until tender, 12 to 14 minutes.