Last week, I was running my weekend errands, and I noticed the Shriner’s Vidalia Onion truck out of the corner of my eye, parked in a strip mall parking lot on the corner of College and Old Steese. For the past 4 years, I’ve missed out on buying these sweet, pungent treats because they sell out so quickly, and I refused that fate this year. From a distance, I saw there were a few bags of onions left, so I did a U-turn and pounced while the gettin’ was good.
When I walked up to the old card table covered with red-mesh bags full of Georgia imports, I met an older Shriner clad in khakis, a white button-up shirt, and his fez. His helper, Baybee, was a 13 year old teacup-pooch-of-some-sort, weighing in at a whopping 4 pounds, who’s been helping him sell onions for years. The Shriner held her by his side, baybee-talking to her while she squinted her milky eyes in delight.
I don’t know how long the local chapter has been doing this fundraiser, but they’ve done it long enough to have a fan club. Alaska’s Shriners had a goal to sell 33,000 pounds of onions at this year’s fundraiser, and when I bought my bag, Fairbanks was down to a couple dozen bags. All proceeds go to their local chapter and to help fund children’s hospitals in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.
So, I had a huge bag of Vidalias on my hands this week. Obviously, this was the week for an oniony recipe, much to my delight. Inspired by America’s Cookbook-Sausage Stuffed Prunes recipe, I came up with this sweet(ish) and savory delight: Bacon, Vidalia, and Dried Plum (oh, and beer) Relish, served with Camembert and the starchy vehicle of your choice. Crusty bread or crackers, perhaps. I find that prunes taste spicy; something about the taste of them on my palate reminds me of cinnamon, nutmeg, or ginger. So, the prunes add that layer to this relish in addition to a little something sweet.
- 1½ pound bacon
- 1 large vidalia onion (or 2 medium)
- 4 garlic cloves, halved
- ¾ cups beer of your choice (I used Blue Moon)
- 1 cup prunes, pitted
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 bay leaf
- Cut bacon in 1 inch pieces and throw in a large frying pan. Fry over medium-high heat until crisp.
- Meanwhile, slice vidalia onion in thin slices.
- Once done, remove bacon with a slotted spoon and put directly in a crockpot.
- Pour off all but 1 Tbsp. of the bacon fat from the skillet. Add onions and garlic and cook until translucent.
- Deglaze the pan with ¼ cup beer. Simmer for about a minute more.
- Add onion and garlic mixture to the crockpot with the bacon.
- Add prunes, remaining beer, syrup, and spices to crockpot and stir.
- Cook on High for 3 hours. Once done, discard bay leaf and transfer solids from the crockpot to a food processor and pulse, adding up to 1½ cups of cooking liquid gradually, until it's the consistency of a chunky salsa.
- Serve immediately over warm camembert with crackers and bread.
- Note: It's also really good if you spoon ½ cup of relish over an uncut wheel of camembert and heat everything in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes.
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