Dinner & A Movie

 I have a confession to make, I am not much of an onion fan. I do love them caramelized and can tolerate them in any cooked form but raw onions, UGH. I like the flavor they bring to foods but just cannot tolerate how strong they are when raw. And out of the many varieties of onions there are I honestlyonly enjoy one:  a good sweet onion, especially the now in season Vidalia onion. Today is going to be another humid (ok, wet day since it is raining now and is supposed to continue on all day like this) and hot (mid 80s) day. Normally I would avoid turning on the oven (no A/C) however I have a taste for one of my favorite recipes. Years ago I used to post on a regular basis on an old AOL message board that shared recipes and I got this particular one from a lady on there. Taking advantage of the semi-cooler temperatures this morning I am baking up the blind pie shell and then letting it sit until I do the filling later on in the afternoon.
I love baking pies. So much so that I keep a handy cheat sheet for pie dough on the inside of the cabinet where my spices/baking supplies reside.

I also keep shortening inside the refrigerator and of course we have a pitcher of filtered water in there as well so I am always ready to go for pie shells.  I combined 1 1/2 cups of flour with 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Then I cut in 1/2 cup of shortening using a pastry cutter (I prefer this old fashioned hand method over a mixer). I quickly added 4-6 tablespoons of water and rolled the dough out on my marble pastry board:

A quick roll and a transfer to a 9 inch pie plate, a good poking with a fork to prevent shrinkage and it was ready to go into a preheated 425 degree oven for 15 minutes:

I will let this baked shell cool and then cover it with a clean tea towel and let it sit until I am ready to do the filling later on this afternoon.

 

 

Afternoon plans for today included taking advantage of the $5 special on movies at a local theatre. Teen son H and his lady friend, her grandma and grandma's friend, and  I all planned on seeing The Lone Ranger. While this movie did not get great reviews we are all Johnny Depp fans and went to see it anyway. We enjoyed it. It was great fun. Next week we plan on catching the Despicable Me sequel.

After returning home I did the filling for the pie and popped it in the oven. An hour later it was ready to be cut and served.

 

Vidalia Onion Pie:
1 baked 9 inch pie shell
3 large Vidalia onions, peeled and sliced thin
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup + 2 tbl. grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 tbl. hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste
pinch of paprika

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Melt butter in a large skillet and cook onions until clear and soft, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
In a large bowl mix together the eggs, sour cream, hot sauce, 2 tbl. parmesan cheese, salt, & pepper. Stir in onions and cooking liquid and mix well. Pour onion mixture into prebaked pie shell. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 of a cup of cheese and pinch of paprika over the top. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Lower temperature to 350 degrees and bake an additional 30-40 minutes until lightly browned on top. Let cool about 10 minutes before slicing.