Middle Aged and Living Well

Onion Pie is not what it seems. A childhood friend’s mom first started bringing this dish to our Thanksgiving dinner and it became an entrenched tradition. This is not a dessert, but is a tasty savory side dish that has a hint of sweetness from the sautéed onions. The great thing about this recipe is you will get great reviews, your house will smell wonderful while you sauté onions, and its one of the easiest recipes to make. Make this recipe and you will be the hit of any pot luck.  I got lots of cooking credibility when I brought this dish to our company holiday party.

Ingredients

• One sleeve of saltines (good old classic saltines), approximately 30 crackers
• 1/2 cup butter melted
• 6 mediums onions, sliced in 1/4 inch rounds
• 3 Tbl olive oil
• 3 large eggs, whisked
• 1 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 lb cheese, shredded  (I use cheddar, but use any good melting type cheese that you like)
• kosher salt and pepper
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Procedure

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Place the saltines in a food processor and pulse until you blend them to a fine grain.  With the processor running, slowly pour the melted butter in until the mixture looks like wet sand.  Put the mixture into a 13×9 inch pyrex dish (or any similar sized dish) and press into a crust on the bottom of the pan.
• Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium high heat.  Add the sliced onions season with 1/2 tsp of salt and sauté until they are golden brown.  Depending on the heat it will take about 30 minutes.  Constantly stir the onions to avoid burning the onions on the bottom.  The onions will pile in the pan, but they will cook down to a reasonable size.  As the volume of the onions reduces you may want to reduce your burner temperature to help with the caramelization process.  When they are golden brown,  lay the onions over the saltine crust.
• Place milk in a sauce pan and bring to a scalding temperature.  Its scalded when it reaches 180 degrees or one small bubbles start to appear around the edge of the pan.  Temper the eggs with with a few ladle fulls of the scalded milk while whisking the eggs.  Add the tempered eggs back to the milk and stir.  Add the shredded cheese a few handfuls at a time until all melted.  Season with the salt and pepper and cayenne.  It should take about a tsp of salt, but it may need a little more or less depending on the type of cheese you are using.  Pour the mixture over the onions.
• Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until bubbly and top is golden brown.