Ratings
4
out of 5
472
user ratings
Your rating
or to rate this recipe.
Have you cooked this?
or to mark this recipe as cooked.
Private Notes
Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.
Cooking Notes
Delee
Nothing wrong with adding cheese - every recipe can be modified - but then it's no longer truly an onion custard. When you add cheese, the proportions change and cheese is dominant, with onion for added flavor. It's just a different dish. You can add nutmeg, but it's unlikely that Vertamae would have done so. This is country food - especially the low country of South Carolina and Georgia, and some of the best flavors come unadorned..
sfemet
Line the empty, uncooked pie crust with parchment paper or foil. Cover with pie weights or uncooked beans. Bake for 10-15 min @ 350. Remove liner and weights. Let cool. Then fill and bake according to recipe.
ken
adding some grated cheese eg aged cheddar takes this one over the top
Leisureguy
I used bacon fat, but olive oil would do as well. I also omitted the crust altogether (low-carb diet) and it came out very well. I used a Neapolitan approach: one red onion, one yellow, and one white. The bits of red onion on the surace of the baked pie look like a random mosaic: very nice.
I used 4 jumbo eggs and sour cream rather than heavy cream. And I baked it for 35 minutes. The center should not jiggle when you shake the pan, and that took 35 minutes.
Delee
If she was from Dafuskie, might she not have used Vidalia sweet onions for this? It would have made it more of a dessert than a side dish.
am
Speaking as the granddaughter of a Geechee girl, I say of course she used Vidalia onions every chance she got...I do too.
Cate
Blind bake is to bake a pie shell before adding the filling. Cover the shell with parchment paper, then fill with beans or rice. An all butter crust shrinks, so extend it 1 1/2" beyond pie plate and chill it in freezer for 15 mins before baking.
Since this pie gets a second bake, the crust is PARTLY blind baked. The second bake cooks the filling and completes the bake on the pastry.
A pie shell is only fully blind baked when there is no second bake.
Annice
I'm from the South and I immediately though "Vidalia onion" when I read the ingredients. But it would still be a side dish, not a dessert. This would make an ideal compliment to a glazed country ham, with a pile of fresh, roasted asparagus to round out the meal.
lkp
Made this almost as written (substituted whole milk for cream--crust has enough butter in it to provide the desired richness), including using 3 huge Spanish onions, and was amazed at the rich flavor in such a simple dish.
NOT the case that it takes only an hour to prepare. Slicing the onions is time-consuming (20-30 min.), and cooking down the onions to proper softness is a necessary but long process (45 min., at least). That said, once it was assembled it was perfectly baked in 30 min.
Dorothy
This is essentially a Spanish tortilla de papa without the potatoes. So my take on it is this: go ahead and made it without the potatoes, but leave out the crust too and instead include some barely braised zucchini as a foundation to hold it together. Less calories, healthier.
Lenny-t
I make it exactly as written with sweet Spanish onions (can't always get Vidalias) and it is incredibly good! It's a good side for baked beans - or even cold as a quick lunch. Tried it with cheese but prefer it plain and simple.
Figaro
Outstanding! Husband couldn't stop praising this pie. It's unctuous, rich and decadent, not to mention beautiful. I added a red onion, grated nutmeg and some cayenne. Instructions and timing were spot on.
A tip for peeling and slicing onions: put them in the fridge several hours or overnight. You'll find your mascara won't run. Also, instead of weights and beans, I prick he crust with a sharp tined fork and that keeps is from rising up.
Thanks, Melissa!
aquanegra
Do it the "authentic" way at least once. But '... it was never just about food. What she wanted was for people to feel their own way through their kitchens, and through their lives, to not be ruled by the authority of a recipe, or by any kind of authority. “I just do it by vibration,” she wrote, explaining the title of her book, the one in which she changed the course of her life by telling her story. “Different strokes for different folks. Do your thing your way.”'
Heysus
Oh my gosh. Cooked exactly as the recipe and it is divine. Mm,mm.
SonomaSMB
I have been making something similar to this for years, & it is one of my favorites of all time.
The "Savory Cheese and Onion Pie" from The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas. Hers has tomatoes and Gruyere cheese.
I don't blind bake the pastry & it takes more like 40 minutes to cook. And it's even good crustless.
Katy
Whoever suggested that using vidalia onions in this recipe could make it a dessert was not from around here. Bless their heart.
Lucy M.
Made just as is but used half whole milk and half cream=divine! Also used 1 red onion.
Lisa
Re: cooking time you are not caramelizing the onions so it should not take 45 minutes to cook them. It should take about 20. They should be soft, partially translucent, maybe brown in spots but not predominantly brown and gooey
Debnev
Made it exactly as she calls for. Perfect. I was very tempted to add cheese or maybe a little nutmeg, but now I'm glad I didn't.
SabraStein
Way too bland for the effort. Since I was making pastry crust I doubled the recipe and will have to doctor the reserved pie. Maybe broil Gruyère on top. Or cover with Boursin. Next time, I’ll just make quiche.
CS
Can this dish be frozen successfully?
Denis
Add the cooked onions to a bowl containing the eggs and cream else you risk making an omelette. a dash of cayenne goes well here.
CR
I wish there were a touch more details in the recipe... I think I undercooked the onions! Smells delicious though
Dman
Loved the flavour, next time I make it I’m going to pre bake the shell a bit longer than I did but it tasted great either wayWill make againMight go full blown caramelized onion next time I make it
DRK
Since cooking for myself only, and also trying to decrease carbohydrates in my diet, I made this crustless as another reader wrote and modified the recipe a bit to avoid too much temptation and leftovers. I kept the three eggs, cut the onion amount in half, and cut the cream down to 1/3 cup. I reduced the butter and added bacon but followed all other directions. Baked as directed for 30 minutes and it was delightful
krelco
This pie was well received. At least 2 of the 3 onions I used were vidalia onions and I was surprised by the bit of sweetness they gave to the pie. We did not add any "extras" to the pie and really enjoyed it as is, as a humble ode to the onion -- cheese would have totally changed this I think. All that vitamin C was also a big plus!
Grandmadoc
This recipe inspired me to find one of Vertamae’s cookbook! Having a lot of fun with it.
Chris
Delicious served cold on a hot summer day. I used olive oil since I didn't have peanut oil, but looking forward to try it with the peanut oil next time.
Andrea T
Surprisingly delicious and easy to make. I followed the directions, only adding a handful of minced ham. It turned out to be a wonderful - creamy custard-like, and even better the next day. Never having made an onion pie - i am now a FAN! Note: vidalia or maui onions are the way to go.
Stephanie L
This was delicious, so comforting and rich my husband thought it could be dessert. I made it crustless in a 9 inch Pyrex pie dish, baked for a bit less than 30 min, but otherwise followed the recipe using vidalia onions.
Private notes are only visible to you.
