Gluten-Free Onion Rings on Spaghetti Squash and Carrots

After discussions about a certain bear's onion rings, we were all craving some gluten-free onion rings.  We made the rings then set them on a bed of carrots and spaghetti squash for a wonderful, tasty meal.



Squash
Cut one large spaghetti squash in half from top to bottom.  Scoop out the seeds and squishy bits. Put about 1/2 inch of water into a cookie sheet and lay the squash down (inside facing down).  Cook at 375F for about 45 minutes. You can tell the squash is done when you can easily pierce through the entire squash with a fork.

Onion Rings

• 3 large onions
• 2 cups gluten-free flour
• 6 tsp. garlic powder
• 4 tsp. chili powder
• 4 tsp. Salish smoked salt (can use any salt)
• 1 cup milk (or soy milk)
• 1 egg (or Flax egg-substitute)
• one large Ziploc or other reseal-able bag
• Enough vegetable oil to float the rings in your pot (we used a mixture of peanut, sunflower, and canola oil.  Be sure to use an oil with a smoke point above 375F (see http://bit.ly/cTqFcJ)

Turn the oil on medium-high heat. Cut the onions into rings as thick as you want, then separate them. Mix all of the dry ingredients in one bowl, and whisk the milk and eggs in another. Scoop about 1/3 of a cup of the dry mix into the reseal-able bag at a time and refill as necessary. Do not use all of the mix in the bag at once as it will tend to clump and won't coat the rings properly. Coat all of the rings in the dry mix and set aside. The oil should be at 375F. Dip the coated rings into the egg/milk mixture, then into the reseal-able bag to coat the onion rings one more time.  gently drop these one at a time into the hot oil, and cook until brown (about 1 minute each side).  Repeat the coating process before each batch of rings in the oil.  Place the cooked rings on a cookie sheet with a brown paper or paper towel lining to soak up excess oil.

Carrots

• 10-12 peeled and shreeded carrots
• a small amount of the egg/milk mixture and the dry flour mixture

Use a small amount of oil to fry the carrots on high heat for about 3 minutes. Add a bit of the egg/milk mixture, then the flour mixture for taste.

Assemble
We made two large serving plates, each one enough for two people. We started with a bed of spaghetti squash, added half the carrot mixture, then topped it all off with half of the onion rings.  We added two dipping sauces for fun.  One was a sweet chili thai sauce that tasted amazing with the whole mixture. The other was a dill sauce that was great with the onion rings.

We hope you enjoy our first recipe.  We look forward to adding more very soon!