Tamara L. Furda; Naperville, IL Our $1,000 Grand Prize Winner	View Other Winning Recipes
	Savory Stuffed Vidalia® Onions with Creamy Marsala Sauce Ingredients: 4 Vidalia® onions 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1 teaspoon sea salt, divided 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper, divided 1 cup of beef broth, plus extra if needed 8 ounces applewood smoked bacon 8 ounces cremini mushrooms ¼ cup mascarpone cheese 4 ounces Emmentaler cheese, shredded 1 tablespoon fresh sage leaves, minced 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, minced 4 teaspoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces Ingredients for Marsala Sauce: 2 large shallots 2 garlic cloves 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 cup dry marsala wine 1 cup half & half ¼ teaspoon sea salt ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper 4 teaspoons fresh sage, slivered Serves 4 Download This Recipe In PDF Format.
	Preparation: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.Cut a thin, flat slice off the root end of the Vidalia® onions so they will sit up straight in the roasting pan, then cut a one inch thick slice off the top. Peel the onions and then using a melon scoop, scrape out the insides leaving a ¼ inch thick shell. Place the scooped out onion n a bowl and set aside. Place the Vidalia onion shells in a medium size flame-proof roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle the onions with ½ teaspoon sea salt and ½ teaspoon pepper then pour the beef broth into the pan surrounding the onions. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. While onion shells are baking, cut the baron into 1-inch pieces and cook in a medium sauté pan until crisp. Drain bacon on paper towels and pour all but 2 teaspoons of bacon grease from the pan. Finely chop the onion that was scooped from the shells, add 2 cups to the sauté pan with the bacon grease and save the remainder for another use. Coarsely chop the mushrooms and add them to the sauté pan. Cook over moderate heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Transfer the cooked onion and mushroom mixture to a medium mixing bowl and add the mascarpone cheese, cooked bacon, ½ teaspoon of sea salt, ½ teaspoon of black pepper, Emmentaler Swiss cheese, fresh sage and rosemary and mix well. Remove the onion shells from the oven and stuff each shell with ¼ of the filling. Spoon the breadcrumbs on top of each onion and dot with butter. If the beef broth has evaporated add enough extra to just fill the bottom of the pan and return the pan to the oven for 20 minutes. While the onions finish baking, finely chop the shallots and garlic for the sauce. Add the olive oil to a medium sauté pan set over moderate heat. Add the shallots and garlic and sauté for 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the unsalted butter and stir until melted and remove from the heat. Remove the onions from the oven and transfer each onion to a warmed shallow bowl or rimmed plate and keep warm. Place the flame proof roasting pan over medium heat and pour in the dry marsala to deglaze the pan. Scrape the bottom to release any browned bits and stir constantly until marsala has reduced by half. Pour the marsala reduction into the sauté pan containing the shallots and garlic, stir in the half and half, sea salt and black pepper and cook for 3 minutes. Spoon the sauce around each stuffed Vidalia mushroom and garnish each with fresh slivered sage. Serve immediately.
	My Sweet Memory: I grew up in the Midwest, about thirty miles outside of Chicago, Illinois. One of four kids, lucky to have a wonderful stay at home mom who was an exceptional cook and a terrific, fun-loving dad. My father had a great sense of humor and loved doing sleight of hand tricks and playing harmless practical jokes. By profession, he was an airline pilot and consequently, was away from home a lot. I was a real daddy’s girl and missed him so much when he was at work. This is, of course, way before the days of cell phones and Internet so when he was gone, he was pretty unreachable and a three or four day trip would seem like an eternity. I would await his return home with great anticipation, sitting at the front window so I could see his car as it came up the road. As part of the usual hugs and kisses welcome home ritual, there was something else I always hoped for….THE SURPRISE! It certainly wasn’t something I received every time, but when I did, I knew it would likely be something unique and interesting from somewhere exotic. Now granted, pretty much everywhere he went seemed exotic to me at the tender age of seven or so. I would listen to him tell stories of a layover in Pittsburgh with the same rapt attention as an account of an amazing seafood dinner he enjoyed while visiting Fisherman’s Wharf on a San Francisco overnight. One of those amazing seafood dinners had once included escargot. When he announced he had a surprise for me I watched wide-eyed as he produced from his flight bag an enormous brown shell. When he described to me what the former occupant of that head looked like I couldn’t believe that it had been part of his dinner! It was his way of teaching me about the world and sharing his experiences with me and they were moments I treasured. One early summer day, dad returned home from a trip and announced that he would be grilling hamburgers outside for dinner that evening. This was always a huge event for us kids and the sly look on dad’s face told us we were in for a treat. As we were sitting down to enjoy our wonderful meal outdoors, my father produced a bag and set it on the picnic table. He said that what was inside would change the way we ate hamburgers forever. Imagine our surprise when he reached inside the bag and withdrew an onion. We’re thinking, “gee... exciting… an onion”. He proceeded, with great precision, to cut off the top and bottom and then carefully peeled away the outer skin of that onion. What he did next made our jaws drop. He picked it up and bit into that onion as if it were an apple! He started chewing, this big smile never leaving his face. We wondered just how long he could possibly maintain his composure and assumed that any second his eyes would well with tears and the onion would be spat out. It didn’t happen. He finished chewing, swallowed and said, “Who else wants a bite?” I think we all started talking at once wanted to know just exactly how he pulled that off. The story that followed of his trip to Georgia and the roadside stand where he purchased these amazing onions that you can eat just like an apple kept us riveted throughout the rest of our meal. I have never forgotten my father’s stories of culinary adventures and on that early summer day I became a lifelong fan of Vidalia onion.
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