pot-luck dinner + memories...

I went with my friend P. to the monthly dinner we usually attend. It was at a large UMC Uptown. How I ended up with a dish to take is a story in itself, as it has been so long since I cooked anything I barely know the way around my own kitchen. I took mac-n-cheese, and she had a casserole that was mostly onions.

She said it was made from a recipe I gave her some time ago, so I must have cooked and took it to a potluck dinner at some point, and shared the 'how-to' part. Her proof  as to the origin was that it was on an index card in my hand-writing:  impossible to deny. Mac-n-cheese is so mundane, my casserole dish was not even empty when I went to retrieve it, but the dish she took with Vidalia Onion Pie was practically licked clean. I know because I went back for more and there was hardly a crumb left. I'm not even sure she would have had to wash it when she got home!

For some reason, she had the recipe with her, I guess to show me that it was not another we had talked about, that had rice listed as' the secret ingredient'. Several people stopped by our table and inquired about it - receiving the reply that it is so easy, you don't really need the written recipe to make it: just an idea of what to put together.

They wanted a copy nonetheless, so I said: let me write it down for you. I know what a sweet thing it is to be looking for a particular card in my file, and thumb through the frayed edges of so many index cards that have other people's handwriting on them. The group at my table immediately chimed in in full agreement, obviously being women who cherish the 'personal' quality of seeing handwriting from a specific individual when making a dish that has a certain sentiment attached. So I wrote the recipe for Vidalia Onion Pie out twice for people who wanted to have the particulars. And put my name and the date up in the right hand top corner, so when/if they make it, they will definitely think of me!

So, with a tip of the hat to the Pioneer Woman, here is the recipe:

Vidalia Onion Pie

1 cup saltine cracker crumbs + 1/4 c. melted oleo, mixed, used to line pie plate
3 cups or more of thinly sliced Vidalia onions + 2 Tablespoons oleo - saute till tender, spoon over crackers.
2eggs, 3/4 cup milk, salt and pepper to taste, mix well, pour over onions
1/4 cup shredded sharp cheese, sprinkle over top
Bake 350, about 45 min., Test with knife blade for doneness.
She made a much larger casserole, with lots more onions, but said the only other thing she increased was putting more cheese on top. With all the salt in the crackers, I'd go light on seasonings, just add pepper.

The really neat part is that the copy of the recipe I have on an index card in my file, came from my grandmother B. Sadly it is not in her handwriting, but I put her name on it when I copied, so I know whereof it originated.. And suspect she found it, many years ago, printed as the 'recipe of the week', in the Georgia Dept. of Ag. weekly newspaper: Market Bulletin.