Crudité platters need to be brought back from the 1980’s graveyard! They should burst with seasonal veggies of gorgeous color and shapely form. After all, the veg platter does not need to be sanctioned only to carrots, celery, and cauliflower. Besides, it’s Spring! What a great time to eat raw veg!
Pie Ranch crudité platter of gorgeous Spring Veggies and confit onion dip.
I like to do all sorts of dips depending on what’s available on the farm. Sometimes I make a spicy white bean dip or a spinach dip, but this time I was motivated by the last issue of Bon Apetít which highlighted an onion dip. As a kid I used to love that stuff. Remember that onion flavor packet you would add to sour cream instantly transforming it into an irresistable concoction? I remember ripping through whole bags of ruffled potato chips simply so I could shovel more onion dip into my mouth.
Crudité platter with Pie Ranch gorgeous produce
I made this onion dip in a similar fashion to making French onion soup: I sliced a 5 pound bag of sweet yellow onions thin on a mandolin. Then I tossed the onions with olive oil to coat, fresh thyme, a tablespoon of sugar and a big 3-finger chef pinch of sea salt and let them cook down slowly (low heat) in a pot on the stove without stirring. When the bottom layer was nice and caramelized I gave them a stir and continued cooking until all was brown. Deglazing the pan with white wine, letting it cook off, and deglazing with more white wine is a must after the onion is caramelized. I used almost 1/2 bottle of dry white wine after deglazing 4 times and letting it reduce after each addition.
When the onion is confited, let it cool and then chop it up (mince) by hand. I’m a sour cream fan and if I wasn’t conscious of my healthy guests I would have only used sour cream for this. Instead I split the mixture with 4 cups of greek yogurt and 4 cups of sour cream. So yes, this makes a lot of dip! It will feed up to 55 people!
If I haven’t convinced you with my crudité platter that raw veg as an appetizer is the way to go. Check out some of these beautiful veg platters for inspiration from the Huffington Post!
Ingredients
- Confit Onion Dip:
- 5# bag of sweet yellow onions (or Walla Walla)
- 1/2 bunch fresh thyme, chopped
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- Sea salt to taste
- Olive oil to coat, about 1/4 cup
- 1/2 bottle (2 cups) dry white wine
- 4 cups sour cream
- 4 cups Greek yogurt
- Crudités platter:
- any seasonal veggies that look beautiful. I used:
- fennel
- watermelon radish
- kholrabi
- heirloom carrots
- endive
- french radish
- cabbage for a dip container
I make this onion dip in a similar fashion to making French onion soup:
slice a 5 pound bag of sweet yellow onions thin on a mandolin. Toss onions with olive oil to coat. Add: fresh thyme, a tablespoon of sugar and a big 3-finger chef pinch of sea salt and let them cook down slowly (low heat) in a pot on the stove without stirring.
When the bottom layer is nice and caramelized, give them a stir and continue cooking until all onions are brown. Deglaze the pan with 1/2 cup of white wine letting it cook off, and deglazing with another 1/2 cup of white wine. Deglaze 4 time in all, letting it reduce to practically nothing after each addition.
When the onion is confited, let it cool and then chop it up (mince) by hand. MIx onions with 4 cups of greek yogurt and 4 cups of sour cream adding more salt to taste.
So yes, this makes a lot of dip! It will feed up to 55 people!
If you are dying for that old school onion dip flavor packet, add a teaspoon of onion powder
Wow! So pretty…
While I have plenty of sour cream and Normandy crème fraiche available, there is only one minor hurdle preventing me from attempting to recreate your crudité masterpiece right now, and that’s “any seasonal veggies that look beautiful”. There aren’t any 🙁
Very nice and definitely bada$$ for you to make your onion soup dip from scratch. My memories of this (and all recent experiences) is a pouch of Lipton and a tub of sour cream. And if it wasn’t in some sort of colored plastic or cut crystal bowl, it would have been in a hollowed-our round sourdough loaf like what they do at Pier 39 for tourists looking for that quintessential “SFO chowder experience”. Come to think of it, spinach dip came in that form too.
As a sour cream fan, I’m gonna be bold and use 8 cups of sour cream instead of splitting it with yogurt.
Jeff – Yes, you go right on ahead! Full force!!! I 100% condone that life choice! More power to ya! In fact, sometimes sour cream with some fresh herbs chopped in makes a great simple dip too without all the fuss. Btw, I love your site! You should put my foie gras black truffle burger on it lol! I had a lot of fun checking out all the different burgers.
Wattacetti – I feel terrible that we are having this gorgeous Spring (with very little water mind you) and our produce on the coast is stunning right now while the rest of the world seems to be frozen. I guess I’ll allow you to use carrots and celery or sub everything and just use bread. This dip tastes good on sourdough.
I actually still prefer the lipton flavor pack of onion soup mix for dip. I know that’s crazy and yes I did recreate it to the best of my ability without all those chemicals. But you know, sometimes what you grow up with becomes the bar for excellence. I don’t think you have Best Foods mayo in Canada but I still prefer that over homemade aioli. I know right?!?!? Crazy?? That SFO chowder is disgusting. Starchy gelatinous goo….
Just hearing the name “lipton onion soup mix” starts making my mouth water. They must put something very addictive in that little packet. I’m excited to try this. I agree that crudité platters need to revived, but like Wattacetti said, I think it really depends on where you live. Here in California we’re blessed with a competitive and creative organic produce industry that brings us interesting seasonal veggies and fruits. I can imagine that the carrot and celery stick platters get left untouched.
Very pretty… love what you did with the watermelon radish and the cabbage filled with dip! You’re SO creative!