Alton Brown’s Sweet Onion Custard

I followed a recipe and it worked! *does happy kitchen dance*
As part of my ongoing Meatless Monday, I made a pseudo vegetarian dinner. Since my egg delivery is Tuesday, I usually make an egg dish on Monday to finish up the older eggs. At last, this recipe delivers something that’s not frittata!

Last night was Sweet Onion Custard, Parmesan Spaghetti Squash and Butternut Squash Fries with my homemade ketchup. This recipe was a first for me, my first savory custard and my first steamed custard. I’ve only made custard in a water bath in the oven, so it took some rigging up to fit a pan into a steamer basket.

Sweet Onion Custard

• 3 eggs
• 1 1/4 c. chicken stock (use vegetable stock to make vegetarian)
  
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 c. caramelized onions (starting with 1 c. onions plus a bit of butter to cook down)

Mix ingredients and pour into ramekins (I used one large baking dish, since I couldn’t fit individual ramekins into my steamer). Cover with plastic wrap and then cover with foil. Steam for 12-15 minutes.

The recipe only calls for 3 eggs, which is a low protein amount for 4 servings of a main course. I had to slap my own hand away from cracking in 5 or 6 egg whites. “Allie,”  I told myself. “Just follow the recipe. If you feel you need more protein later, have something ELSE, don’t change the recipe.” It was hard, but I did it.

I borrowed a French Fry Cutter for the butternut squash (which I quickly peeled with a veggie peeler. So much easier than using a knife.). This made lovely little uniform pieces without a trip to the ER. Spritzed the fries with olive oil spray and put on a pizza rack (rather than a baking sheet) to try to get them crispier. (Santa, bring me a convection oven!) The kid and borrowed playdate kid loved novelty of the sweet Orange Fries.

I microwaved the spaghetti squash to cut down on cooking time, scooped it out, tossed with salt and parmesan and finished it up in the oven. In my ongoing oven troubles, the heat was supposed to be at 425 degrees, but it didn’t get over 350. Limp fries…
Meanwhile, I had run three small yellow onions through the slicing disc on the food processor and started to caramelize them in a small amount of butter over medium heat.

Since I’ve run out of my homemade chicken broth, I used Pacific Natural Foods. I mixed the balsamic, a pinch of kosher salt, the stock and the eggs. I added the onions to the dish and then poured the egg mixture over the top.

Steamed for about 17 minutes; it took a bit longer since I used one large dish rather small ramekins. The result was creamy, smooth and delicate without any cream in that custard! I will definitely be making this again. Maybe by next time, my oven will be fixed and we can have crispy fries too.
In the voice of Cogsworth from Beauty and the Beast, “Uh, da, da…Dinner. Is. Served.” Yes, we watch a lot of cartoons around here.

Want to try a different version? Here’s a Caramelized Onion Custard from Branny Boils Over