Sunday, January 10, 2010

Pan-Fried Onion Dip

I love store-bought onion dip, but it's one of those dishes that I've always wondered if I could make at home. When I saw the Barefoot Contessa's version, I knew it would be delicious. I think this is THE onion dip for me.

Pan-Fried Onion Dip
Barefoot Contessa
makes about 2 cups I had about 1 cup and 1/2

2 large yellow onions
4 T unsalted butter
1/4 c vegetable oil
1/4 t ground cayenne pepper
1 t kosher salt
1/2 t freshly ground pepper
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 c sour cream
1/2 c good mayonnaise

Cut the onions in half, and then slice them into 1/8-inch-thick half-rounds. (You will have about 3 cups of onions.)

Heat the butter and oil in a large saute pan on medium heat. ADd the onions, cayenne, salt, and pepper and saute for 10 minutes. REduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 more minutes, until onions are browned and caramelized. I did this for 30+ minutes more on the "medium" end than the "low" setting, which was enough to soften and caramelize, but next time, I'll wait a little longer. The onions weren't brown enough, so people didn't know that it was an onion dip. Allow the onions to cool.

Place the cream cheese, sour cream, and mayo in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat until smooth. Add the onions and mix well. Taste for seasonings. The onions didn't break down quite as much as I hoped, so I did a couple quick pulses in my food processor.

Serve at room temperature.

4 comments:

Rachel said...

AMAZING! Really I spent a good 20minutes working on the leftovers today.

k said...

Oh, I really want to try this! I just saw a recipe on the Cheeseslave blog where she makes her own mayo. Perhaps I will master that and then make this dip...

(http://www.cheeseslave.com/2009/06/01/homemade-lacto-fermented-mayonnaise/)

EmilyCC said...

Awesome, k! I always wanted to try and tackle homemade mayo!

k said...

Cheeseslave says she uses it for dressing, etc. and her family loves it. But other places I have read that the olive oil can give it a strange taste. I think a good, healthy oil alternative is grapeseed? Or maybe cranberry seed? I can't remember. I am just using olive oil!