Once in awhile you come across a recipe that is so darn delicious that it becomes a family favorite, one that everyone loves.  The Bloomin' Onion Bread from The Girl Who Ate Everything is one of those recipes.  I decided to try it in my Dutch oven outdoors and the results were fabulous.

You may have been to  Outback and tried their Bloomin'  Onion appetizer.  It's one of our favorites at Outback,  so when I saw the recipe for Blooming Onion Bread, I had to try it.  It looks so amazing and tastes great.  When I've pulled it out of the oven, it looks so amazing that I actually hear people gasp.  I doubt they'd ever seen anything like it.  Sounds like just the type of delicious recipe that I wanted to try outdoors.

To make this dish,start with a round loaf of sourdough bread.  Make sure you get it unsliced because you'll need to do the slicing yourself.  Take a sharp knife with a little bit of serration.  Make vertical cuts in the bread about ¾-1" inch apart from one side to the other and then turned the whole loaf 90°and repeat.  Don't cut all the way to the bottom crust.  Leave the bread attached at the bottom.  Making the cross-cuts can be a little bit challenging but if you work slowly and carefully you'll be OK.

Next take slices of sliced Monterey jack cheese and put them into the cuts that you just made.  Fill up as many of the cuts as you can.  Carefully separate the bread while you do this.  You'll end up with a loaf that looks something like this:

Next mix ½ cup of melted butter with  ½ cup of chopped green onions,  2 teaspoons of poppy seeds and 1 1/2 teaspoons of garlic powder.  I think real butter works best for this.

Line your Dutch oven with aluminum foil.   Make sure that the ends of the foil extend well above the top of the Dutch oven.  This will help with cleanup and help you get the loaf out the Dutch oven when it's done.

Place the loaf of bread in the Dutch oven and pour the butter mixture all over the top.

Put the lid on the Dutch oven and put 8 to 10 coals underneath and the rest on top (in my case that was about 17).   Let cook at least 30 minutes.  Since we started with a Dutch oven cold it will take a little time to heat up.  You should check after 15 minutes, just to make sure all is going ok.  You want to make sure the cheese is nicely melted and that the bread is warmed throughout.

When done, use the aluminum foil to gently left the loaf out of the pan and onto a serving platter.  Carefully raise the loaf and remove the aluminum foil from underneath.  Present to your guests and wait for their oohs and aahs!  They'll love how it looks and how it tastes!  To eat, just dig in with your fingers to remove delicious chunks of bread and cheese, or cut a chunk off for each person.

Imagine this at a barbecue party or a campout or feeding a bunch of hungry boy scouts!   It's so easy to make.  You could even prep it all ahead of time by cutting the bread, slicing the cheese, and inserting the cheese slices, and wrapping the whole thing in Saran wrap and putting into the fridge  If you stir up the melted butter mixture as well, you'll have everything done except the cooking.

Awesome dish, great taste, fabulous presentation.  You can't ask for much more!

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