This refreshing and cooling summer recipe won’t heat up your kitchen but will spice up any meal, picnic, or family gathering where you decide to serve it.

Here’s a photo of the Sun and Moon Orange and Sweet Onion Salad below.

Ingredients:

2 large navel orange (or 4 tangerines)
1 medium seedless cucumber
1 medium sweet onion
1/4 cup green olives (I used Spanish olives with pimento, but any pitted green olive would be fine)
1/4 cup parsley leaves, loosely packed (cilantro would be nice also), divided
1/4 tsp each of paprika, cumin, & cinnamon
1/8 tsp white pepper
Pinch or two of cayenne or red pepper flakes
Salt to taste
1 lemon, divided
Pita breads (non-pocket type) or thick (gordita-type) tortillas
Olive oil
1 container (8 oz) plain or flavored hummus

PREPARATION:

Peel the oranges, removing all the white pith, and cut into 1/2 inch chunks. Peel and cut the cucumber into 1/2 inch chunks. Peel and cut the onion into 1/2 inch chunks or quarter and cut onto very thin slices. Leave the olives whole or slice, as desired. Finely mince the parsley leaves and reserve a tablespoon.

Combine all the above in a mixing bowl with a squeeze of lemon juice (about a teaspoon) and mix. Sprinkle on the spices and mix gently. Taste, adding a little salt, if desired.

Toast or grill the breads with a little olive oil and a sprinkle of salt, and cut into 8 pieces.

TO SERVE:

To serve, mound 1/4 of the hummus in the center of a small plate (drizzle a little olive oil on top, if desired), spoon 1/4 of the salad around it, and arrange the bread pieces around the outer edge of the plate, points outward, in a sun pattern. Decorate the hummus with a thin, half-moon slice of lemon and a pinch of reserved parsley.

Serves 4.

Enjoy!

Join us tomorrow to find out more about how to make Firecracker Chutney, Doug DuCap’s original recipe which features dried cherries, fresh ginger, and oranges.

You Can Read More of Doug’s Recipe Corner Here.

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Here’s a look back at the posts that appeared earlier in the week here on HuggingtheCoast.Com as well as a sneak peak of next week’s features:

Looking Back: 6/23/2008-6/29/2008

Monday: A Week of Onion Rings: Frito Corn Chip Encrusted Onion Rings

Tuesday: A Week of Onion Rings: Hawaiian Sesame Coconut Onion Rings

Wednesday: A Week of Onion Rings: Cheese and Chive Onion Rings

Thursday: A Week of Onion Rings: Curly Ramen Crunch Onion Rings

Friday: A Week of Onion Rings: Stuffed Potato Skin Onion Rings

Saturday: A Week of Onion Rings: Southern Style Sweet Corn Onion Rings

Sunday: You are here

Also, please join us tomorrow to see Doug’s recipe for Sun and Moon Orange and Sweet Onion Salad which is perfect for July 4th family gatherings and picnics.

Here’s Day 6 of the A Week of Onion Rings series which features Southern Style Sweet Corn Onion Rings.

(Yesterday’s featured onion rings were Stuffed Potato Skin Onion Rings.)

This one’s a little different, but still very easy. It captures the flavor of sweet summer corn and wraps it around the onion in a golden, pillowy crust. Perfect with grilled food of all kinds.

This recipe uses canned corn, but you can make it using fresh corn scraped off the cob. Adjust the salt and sugar to your taste. A nominal amount of garlic powder is invoked for its mysterious power to enhance the flavor of corn while not making its own presence known.

Ingredients:

1 can (about 15 oz) cream-style corn (I use Del Monte because they add less sugar)
1 cup self-rising flour (plus additional if needed)
1/8 tsp white pepper (or more to taste)
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt
Oil for frying
1 very large yellow or Vidalia onion, cut and separated into 3/4 inch rings

Preparation:

Pulse the corn in a food processor or blender until nearly smooth. Remove to a bowl and whisk in the flour 1/4 cup at a time until a thick batter is achieved. Whisk in the spices and set aside. Heat 1/2 to 3/4 inches oil in a heavy skillet to 375 degrees.

Dip an onion ring into the batter, coating thickly. Lay it gently into the oil and cook until golden, turning once. Remove and drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining rings. You can do 2-3 at a time depending on the size of your skillet, but take care not to crowd the pan or let the temperature drop too much, or the rings will turn out greasy.
Enjoy!

Serving Suggestions:

• A pinch or three of cayenne adds a little counterbalance to the corn’s sweetness.

• Add some finely minced sweet red or green pepper, or finely minced pickled jalapeno to the batter.

• Take a large soft kaiser roll, put a big onion ring on the bottom half, put a heap of smoky pulled pork inside the onion ring, top with creamy cole slaw, put the lid on, bite. The great outdoors just got greater, didn’t it?

You Can Read More of Doug’s Recipe Corner Here.



If you liked this article on HuggingtheCoast.Com, you might also enjoy:

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• A Week of Onion Rings: Hawaiian Sesame Coconut Onion Rings Recipe
• A Week of Onion Rings: Cheese and Chive Onion Rings Recipe
• A Week of Onion Rings: Frito Corn Chip Encrusted Onion Rings Recipe
• A Week of Onion Rings: Stuffed Potato Skin Onion Rings Recipe
• A Week of Onion Rings: Curly Ramen Crunch Onion Rings Recipe

Here’s Day 5 of the A Week of Onion Rings series which features Stuffed Potato Skin Onion Rings.

(Yesterday’s featured onion rings were Curly Ramen Crunch Onion Rings.)

Onion rings that taste like those All-American bacon & cheese & sour cream & butter & chive goodies that many of us secretly wish we could eat for at least one meal a day? Preposterous! Impossible! Absurd! But on the other hand…could it be possible?

The answer is yes! These onion rings are a hybrid of two appetizer platter superstars. They work great as rings, but are even better as jumbo-sized onion chips (and easier to use as dipping scoops after they’re done!)

Even though it seems like beer batter might be a good starting point, the beer provides an off-note to an already complex flavor spectrum. Milk works out much better.

Ingredients:

1 4 oz packet Idahoan “Loaded Baked” mashed potato mix, divided
2 cups Basic Batter (made with milk)…see the ingredients list for this batter to the right.
Oil for frying
1 very large yellow or Vidalia onion, cut and separated into 3/4 inch rings

Preparation:

Pulse 1/2 cup of the potato mix in a food processor or blender until powdered. Add this to the batter; stir well and set aside. Put the remaining potato mix in a shallow bowl.

Heat 1/2 to 3/4 inches oil in a heavy skillet to 375 degrees. Dip an onion ring into the batter, coating thickly, and dredge in the dry potato mix. Lay it gently into the oil and cook until golden, turning once. Remove and drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining rings. You can do 2-3 at a time depending on the size of your skillet, but take care not to crowd the pan or let the temperature drop too much, or the rings will turn out greasy.

Enjoy!

Serving Suggestions:

• Other flavors of mashed potato mix (butter & chive, four cheese, etc.) work well too. (Haven’t tried the mashed sweet potato mix yet, but it looks promising.)

• Nacho cheese sauce? Sour cream? Ranch dip? All of the above? Sounds good to me!.

Join us tomorrow to read Doug’s new recipe for Southern Style Sweet Corn Onion Rings as part of his Week of Onion Rings Series which celebrates the official start of Summer.

You Can Read More of Doug’s Recipe Corner Here.

If you liked this article on HuggingtheCoast.Com, you might also enjoy:

• New Vidalia Onion Brochure Features Hugging The Coast Onion Ring Recipes!
• French Onion Soup Lasagna Recipe
• A Week of Onion Rings: Hawaiian Sesame Coconut Onion Rings Recipe
• A Week of Onion Rings: Southern Style Sweet Corn Onion Rings Recipe
• A Week of Onion Rings: Cheese and Chive Onion Rings Recipe
• A Week of Onion Rings: Frito Corn Chip Encrusted Onion Rings Recipe
• A Week of Onion Rings: Curly Ramen Crunch Onion Rings Recipe