BBQ Bacon Sliders (3 parts)

Burgers
1 1/2 lbs high-quality 85/15 ground Angus
1/2 C BBQ sauce (or your favorite bottled BBQ sauce)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

8-10 small white dinner rolls, or Hawaiian sweet rolls, sliced in half and toasted if desired
8-10 crisp lettuce leaves
8-10 slices bacon, cooked crisp

Burgers: Heat a grill pan on the stove top, or an outdoor grill to medium-high heat. Combine beef, 2 tablespoons barbecue sauce, salt and pepper. Divide and shape mixture into 8-10 3/4″-thick patties (keep the size of your buns in mind as wells the fact that the burgers will shrink quite a bit while cooking when shaping the patties). Grill for 2-3 minutes and then flip. Brush the top side of each burger with remaining sauce. Continue grilling for another 2 minutes and flip burgers again, brushing the other side with additional sauce. Continue to cook and baste until the internal temperature of the burgers reach 160-165 degrees.

Garlicky Blue Cheese Spread
1/2 c. mayonnaise
1/4 tsp. Kosher salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, pressed or finely minced
1/4 c. crumbled blue cheese (not a blue cheese fan? Leave it out!)

Garlicky Blue Cheese Spread: Combine mayonnaise, salt, pepper, red wine vinegar and garlic. Mix well and stir in crumbled blue cheese. Store in refrigerator until ready to use.

Crispy Shoestring Onions

To assemble: Lightly spread the bottom half of each bun with Garlicky Blue Cheese Spread and top with a lettuce leaf. Break each bacon piece in half and place on top of lettuce leaves. Place burger on top and drizzle with additional barbecue sauce if desired. Top with a small handful of Crispy Shoestring Onions. Spread remaining Garlicky Blue Cheese Spread on top halves of buns.

 from: http://www.ourbestbites.com/2010/09/bbq-bacon-sliders-for-the-better-homes-and-gardens-cook-off/

Crispy Shoestring Onions

YIELD about 4 cups 

6 oz onion slices (1 large onion)
1 egg
1 Tbs milk
3/4 C flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
vegetable oil for frying

You’ll need three bowls. One with an egg and a little milk, one with some white flour and seasonings, and one with your sliced onions. You can slice your onions however you like. I slice them about 1/8-1/4″ wide and then quarter the slice of whole onion so the pieces are only an inch or two long. (ya, ya…forgot the picture of that one…)

Take a small handful of onions at a time and dunk them in the egg. Lift them up and let any excess egg drip off. We don’t want to deep fry clumps of egg here. Actually, that would probably taste good. Pretty much anything deep fried tastes good, but that’s beside the point.

After they’ve had a dunk in the egg, then just toss them around in the flour mixture until everything is coated. This is where you can personalize these little bits of yumminess. The recipe here is the most basic one, add seasonings to your heart’s delight.

Heat 2 inches of oil to 350 degrees. Make sure to use a pot with sides (as opposed to a skillet style pan) so the oil doesn’t boil over when you add the onions). Working with a handful of onions at a time, dip in egg mixture and let excess drip off. Then dredge in flour and lightly toss to coat. Place onions in hot oil and cook until golden brown. Remove and place on folded paper towels to absorb oil. Repeat process until all onions are fried.  

The next step is to pop them in a pot of hot oil, for just a couple of minutes.

Take them out when they’re golden brown and let them drain on some paper towels.

Now eat one warm. And if no one’s looking, bust out the ranch dressing and give it a dip. Just to be naughty.

Let them cool to room temp and then you can use them on salads (they’d be seriously awesome on this salad), to top casseroles, on burgers or sandwiches, or just to snack on!

from: http://www.ourbestbites.com/2010/09/tutorial-how-to-make-crispy-shoestring-onions-and-an-announcement/