Marilyn Martin's Recipe

Carmelized Onion Dip

Category: Recipes

Caramelized Onion Dip

Call this the "Better than Lipton" onion dip. It's simply terrific. Once you taste this, you'll never go back to dehydrated onion again. The caramelization process brings out the onion's inherent sweetness and gives the dip a rich, dense flavor. Vidalia or other sweet onion, now in season, is particularly flavorful in this dip, but any onion will do.

To caramelize onions, they are cooked slowly over low heat. It takes time -- up to 1½ hours, depending on the pan used and how many onions are cooking -- but it's no effort at all. Just put the onions on the stove to cook and then do something else, checking on the onions every once in a while -- clean house, garden or wash the car and cook at the same time.
The onions cook faster in a shallow pan than in one with tall sides, such as a Dutch oven. But the latter may be necessary because of the sheer amount of onion, which eventually cooks down to a much smaller amount (4 big onions caramelize into 1 cup). Since the process takes so long, you
may want to double the amount of onions to cook at one time for extra batches.

You can prepare the onions in advance and freeze them for later use. Better yet, make a bunch to freeze so you can pull them out anytime for summer guests. The recipe calls for big onions, but that's strictly to cut the peeling time for the cook. Plan on about 1/3 cup dip per person.

4 large onions, preferably sweet such as Vidalia
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 (16 oz.) carton sour cream
2 tbsp. lemon juice
Salt and white pepper to taste
Chopped chives, for garnish

Coarsely chop onions. Add olive oil to large frying (or braising) pan or Dutch oven and heat. (The frying pan is preferable because the caramelizing process will go faster.)

Cook onions slowly over low to medium heat until the moisture leaves the onions and they turn lightly brown and become nearly a puree as they caramelize. This takes a long time, at least 1 hour and maybe more depending on the type of pan you're using and the amount of onions. Don't give up and turn up the heat to high or the onions will burn.

Remove the onions from pan and cool. If working in advance, either refrigerate or freeze onions in a tightly covered dish or in a plastic freezer bag. To thaw, place onions in refrigerator for several hours.

To finish dip, mash the onions with a fork. Stir onions into the sour cream. Add the lemon juice, salt and white pepper to taste.

To serve, garnish with chives, if desired. Serve with chips or vegetables.

Makes 3 cups, or enough for about 9 guests.

Last but not least, although it really isn't a potato chip dip, is my all time favorite. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I do not do the eggs. This can be made so fast and it has ingredients that are usually on hand. Serve it with some type of butter cracker (ritz etc):