This week's Cook is Wendy Brannen who is the Executive Director of the Vidalia® Onion Committee. Her contact information is
VidaliaOnion.org or
100 Vidalia Sweet Onion Drive (30474)
P.O. Box 1609 (30475)
Vidalia, GA
in case you need even more onion recipes and info.
She sent us a Press Release on an e-mail
and I sent her one back with the cooking quiz.
Courier Herald Cooks, you are in for a treat. In honor of my being out of town until Monday, instead of breaking her quiz into three parts, I am giving you the whole encha...onion. Follows is what Wendy has to say about her love for cooking:
Q. What is your favorite cookbook & why? A. Eatin’ with Edna by Mrs. Edna Cason from Statesboro, Ga. I’ve had this signed cookbook since 1991. My mom bought it for me when I left home to attend my freshman year at the University of Georgia, and it’s been my standard for simple, southern cooking. If I don’t remember how to make Macaroni & Cheese or Pecan Pie, I can look up even the basics and be assured the recipes will taste almost exactly like Mom’s or Grandma’s. Mrs. Cason, who has since passed away, was such a sweet person. I remember her at church and about town, and it seems her family all taught me, graduated with me, or went to Sunday school with me. Preparing Mrs. Edna’s recipes always makes me smile—the spirit of this simple, Southern woman is still alive through her simple, southern recipes. I know because hundreds of graduating seniors just like me got her delicious books every year!
Q. What is your favorite recipe?A. Oh, I’m such a good Georgia girl! Give me some creamed corn, butter beans or the last scoop of almost any type of casserole and I’m good to go—no dessert necessary. Here’s one of my favorites from growing up (and it has my favorite onions in it—Vidalias!)
Vidalia® Onion Sausage Casserole
5 Vidalia onions, sliced
12 Ritz crackers, crushed
1 lb. ground sausage, browned & drained
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. seasoning salt
1 can Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup
½ c. grated Cheddar cheese
1 small jar pimento peppers
Put Vidalia onions in the bottom of casserole dish. Add crackers, then sausage. Add another layer of onions then spread the soup, salt & seasoning. Sprinkle on cheese and pimentos. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for one hour.
Q. What is your favorite seasonal produce and how do you use it?
Since I’m the Executive Director of the Vidalia® Onion Committee and work for a hundred Vidalia growers, you know my answer. In truth, it really is my favorite seasonal treat. Besides the rush of my onion marketing season and the subsequent harvest, I have access each spring and summer to as many of these Georgia beauties as I’d like. I love to just sauté them in a little olive oil (Pam olive oil cooking spray if I’m watching my waist) and add them to about anything. Of course, on TV I like to say my favorite way to eat Vidalias is cut up raw and added to black-eyed peas or on top of a grilled hot dog. These are things I do, but it’s just fun to say on national TV because it sounds so southern!
Q. What is your biggest time-saver in the kitchen/shortcut from the grocery store? A.I’m single and my job keeps me on the run, so I love all the new sliced and diced veggies you can buy. Pre-cut peppers, onions (preferably Vidalia!), mushrooms, etc., are a God-send on the go. Can we say, “Fajitas!”?
Q. Who is your favorite media food star and why?
A. I love Tom Collichio on Bravo’s Top Chef. First of all, I’m still amazed that four seasons in, I still find a cooking show this riveting—you can’t smell or taste the food, but the creativity, skill, and agility of the aspiring top chefs continues to enthrall me. Tom adds to the show as the “Simon Cowell” of the culinary challenge. And, I got to eat at his restaurant, Craftsteak in Las Vegas, recently. Of course, I also like Rocco Dispirito, just because he’s cute!
Q. What is the first thing you ever cooked?
A. Well, I cooked with Mom some, but on my own was probably (guess what) a casserole. Either green been or brown rice (which has no brown rice oddly). Both are still among my favorites.
Q.What tricks do you use to ease clean up?
A. We have a joke in my family that every female on my mother’s side was born with a sponge in her hand. We’re all clean freaks and constantly wiping counters. I guess my biggest trick is what Mom always said, “clean as you go.” Of course, she always cleans in between clearing dinner plates and serving dessert, too. While this does allow for more dinner conversation, it may also lead to impatient guests (my dad!).
Q. What is your biggest extravagance at the grocery store?
A. To me, time is money, so I don’t care if a bagged salad is $5 and a head of lettuce is $.50—I’m going with the bagged salad. I like to dress them up with fresh, colorful peppers and sweet Vidalias when they’re in season, though.
Q. If you are having a party, what do you always cook? A. I do a dip that is actually called, “Vidalia’s Favorite Onion Dip.” It’s quick, easy, and always a hit. Here it is:
Vidalia’s Favorite Onion Dip
3 cups chopped Vidalia® onions
3 cups shredded Swiss cheese
2 ½ cups mayonnaise
Garlic salt to taste
Mix all ingredients and pour into a greased 1 ½ quart baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes until lightly browned. Serve with corn chips.
You can serve with crackers or tortilla chips, but the best in my opinion is those Fritos made for dipping. Yum!
Q. Write a short biography?
A. Wendy Brannen is the Executive Director of the Vidalia® Onion Committee, the national promotional organization for the Vidalia onion growers and shippers. After living in several different states and working as a television news anchor and reporter, she is happy to be back home in Georgia. Wendy is from Statesboro but now resides in Vidalia, where, besides marketing sweet Vidalias, she enjoys Georgia football, traveling to new places, reading crime novels, and occasionally cooking.
Thank you Wendy!
...and look for this Wendy's quiz in tomorrow's Courier Herald on page 8a.
