Sundance Film Festival - Food Finds from Park City - Onion Rings

Each year the fabulous famous flock (nice alliteration, huh?) of stars travels into Utah winter to look good and watch movies at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. I've lived in Utah for 10 years now...and never gone to the festival. In part because I'm not really an indie film fan and in much larger part because I'm not a fan of crowds. I am, however, a fan of Park City. I love going up there and shopping and more so, eating. Park City has more gourmet restaurants per capita than Salt Lake City does, though I wouldn't completely agree with their advertising campaign that "friends don't let friends eat in Salt Lake City." There are good restaurants in the valley as well as the mountains. That said, it is just really fun to travel up to the resort town and always feels like a special occassion.

So, since the 2008 Sundance Film Festival got underway on Thursday, Jan 17th and will go til the 27th, I thought I would share some recipes that I have found from Park City. Though, sadly, I won't be making this one to share any pictures, I will post the recipe because they are fabulous. The only reason I am not making them myself is because I can't eat onions or bleu cheese while nursing the baby. That doesn't mean that you should miss out though. I do have a couple other recipes I plan to make in the next few days as well though, so stay tuned!

The recipe comes from a restaurant called "Zoom" which is actually a Sundance property (owned by Robert Redford himself). The dish was featured a while back on Rachel Ray's $40 A Day on Food Network and looked phenominal. I'm not normally a big, thick, onion ring fan, but the combination of spice and the bleu cheese caught my eye and tastebuds on this one.

So, want to party like a movie star in Park City. Try this one out.

Spicy Buffalo Onion Rings and Blue Cheese Dip
Recipe courtesy Zoom
Show: $40 a Day
Episode: Park City, UT

Vegetable oil, for frying

4 eggs

5 cups 2 percent milk

6 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 tablespoon Cajun spice mix (recommended: Paul Prudhomme's)

2 tablespoons cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon white pepper

2 teaspoons black pepper

2 teaspoons dry mustard

1 2/3 teaspoons salt

3 extra-large yellow onions

Blue Cheese Dip, recipe follows

1 carrot, sliced

1 stalk celery, sliced

Fill a large heavy saucepan with 2 to 3 inches of cooking oil and heat over medium-high heat.

The oil temperature should be at 350 degrees F when you start frying.

In a large bowl, mix the eggs and milk; then add the flour and baking powder and mix thoroughly with a hand-held mixer. Strain the mixture to remove any lumps. Add more milk if you want a thinner crust. In a small bowl, mix the Cajun spice mix, cayenne pepper, white pepper, black pepper, dry mustard, and salt. Add this spice mixture to the batter. Cut the onions into thick slabs, dunk them in the batter, and fry them, in batches, in the oil until golden brown.

Serve the onion rings with the Blue Cheese Dip, sliced carrot, and celery.

Blue Cheese Dip:

2 cups sour cream

1 cup buttermilk

2 cups blue cheese

1 tablespoon minced serrano chile peppers

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon hot sauce

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Serve the sauce in a side bowl for dipping.