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I've never been very daring in a culinary manner. Growing up, we ate what my husband lovingly refers to as geriatric food, which is food completely devoid of any sort of flavor. Honestly, I didn't know what basil was until college, and even then it came from a bottle. It seems completely appropriate, then, that I would marry someone who enjoys, nay, requires massive amounts of flavor on all his food. The first year of our marriage was tough- we tried to find a happy medium, but I will admit, he won out. We are a flavor loving house now, but rest assured, I put up a good fight.

Jason came home a couple weeks ago with the story of a coworker, Jill, who had visited the Webb City Farmer's Market. She stopped at a booth and purchased an onion pie for lunch. When she sat down to dine on her pie, she found the pie had bacon on top, and since she was a vegetarian, she couldn't eat it. Jason told me this story and two things crossed my mind: 1.) Poor Jill. 2.) What in the heck is an onion pie? So, I did some research, and I found a delicious recipe... and just to make someone's day, I prepared an onion pie for Jill as well (hold the bacon.)

Onion Pie

Ingredients

• Crust:
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tablespoon sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup cold all-vegetable shortening, cut into small pieces
  • 1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  • Cold water
  
  Filling:


• 1/4 egg yolk and 1 teaspoon water for egg wash
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 2 pounds Vidalia onions, thinly sliced
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Freshly grated Parmesan
• a few slices of bacon, cooked until crisp and crumbly. I use pepper bacon, for extra flavor.

Directions

For the crust:

• All ingredients should be cold. Combine all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add shortening and butter. Using a pastry blender cut in the shortening and butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
  
• Drop by drop, add cold water. Mix in with the fingertips, not with the hands as the palms will warm the dough. Continue mixing water in until the dough begins to hold together without being sticky but not crumbly.


• Place dough in plastic wrap. Fold over plastic wrap and press down to form a disk. This will make rolling out easier after chilling. Finish wrapping in plastic and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.


• Lightly spray a deep 9-inch pie pan or an 8 1/2-inch fluted flan pan. Roll out dough and place in pie plate. Return to the refrigerator until filling is ready. Makes pastry for a 9-inch single crust pie.


• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

For the filling:

• Brush egg wash on the inside of pie crust. Return to refrigerator until filling is ready.
• Over medium heat, melt butter. Add onions and saute until translucent. Do not brown.
• Combine eggs, sour cream and flour. Add onion mixture. Season with salt and pepper and pour into chilled pie crust.
• Top with Parmesan. Bake for 20 minutes.
• Add crumbled bacon on top of pie.Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F for the last 25 minutes or until center is set.

This is a fantastic summer meal with a fresh salad on the side. I hope you love it as much as I do!