French Onion Dip Nirvana

In a moment of clarity, that comes only during about the third hour of a long road trip, I realized my true passion in life.  Chips and dip.  More specifically, just dip.  My Dad has always said that chips are nothing more than vehicles for dip.  Dip is in my blood; it is part of my soul.  The Lipton-onion soup mix dip we would make on Sundays for the Browns games.  Back when Clevelanders actually made it a priority to stop and gather together for the game.  The Hidden Valley Ranch dip that Cara and I would devour almost every Wednesday after school (shopping day).  Even as teenagers, when we went to separate high schools, Cara would get off the bus a stop early to come over for dip on Wednesdays.  I could probably tell ten more dip stories, one more enthralling than the next.  Crab dip, spinach dip with the cut out bread bowl, artichoke dip.  The list, and the possibilities, are endless.

Mark was the one who suggested it.  “Dip should be your life,” he said.  “It’s your true passion.”  He’s right.  We spent most of the rest of the eight hour drive to Wisconsin discussing our business plan.

So, my first step in becoming dip queen of the world, was to make the perfect homemade French Onion Dip. 

Here it is:

Homemade French Onion Dip

 Stew meat (See later recipe)

One large Vidalia onion, chopped

3 shallots, chopped

Olive oil

3 cloves of garlic, halved

Sherry

Kosher salt

Fresh ground pepper
Light sour cream

                                                                                                            I was making stew for our lunches – the world’s greatest stew ever, but more on that in a later post.  In the dutch oven in which I had just browned the stew meat (pre-tossed in cornstarch) in olive oil on medium high heat, I threw in the chopped onions and shallots, right in with the browned stew meat bits.  A vegetarian’s nightmare.  I sautéed the onions on medium with a bit more olive oil for a minute

or two, then splashed in some cooking sherry to deglaze the pan, scraping up all the browned bits.  I added the halved garlic cloves, probably a good teaspoon of kosher salt, and a pinch of pepper.  I carmelized the onion mixture for almost a half hour, tossing in a bit of parsley flakes near the end. I turned off the pot and let the whole thing cool.  In a separate bowl, I mixed together a full container of light sour cream with the onion mixture, and then added pinches of salt until it tasted just right.  Served with pretzels and carrot chips.  Unbelievably, it tasted like French Onion Dip.  But better (at least I thought so).