I'm a sucker for a good dip. I can almost never pass one up, regardless of the "dippers" that accompany it, especially if there is a copious amount of cheese. So, you can rest assured that the cheese quotient of this dip is . . . high. And that's putting it lightly!
I served a variation of this to a few pals at a Christmas party and they truly ate it ravenously. All that was left after about two minutes was a stained baking dish with nary a dollop of dip remaining. Conversely, I've also eaten this — by myself — for dinner. So it's truly a "choose your own ending" type deal. A large crowd, boisterously enjoying a dip whilst chitchatting and chortling, or a quiet night at home with nothing but your dip and a ton of chips and crudite.
I promise it's just as good no matter the company (or lack thereof).
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It should go without saying, but this dip is by no means light, so pair it with some raw veggies and that may help to offset the heavy dip. My go-to? Raw carrot sticks are unbeatable, but I know the siren song of tortilla chips is sometimes too much to resist.
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Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 large onions (I used 1 red, 1 yellow), peeled and thinly sliced
1 large shallot, peeled and thinly sliced
5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
8 oz. cream cheese (at room temperature)
1/2 cup sour cream or labneh
1 tablespoons sherry or balsamic vinegar
1 ½ cups cheese of your choosing (I opted for Parmesan, fontina, mozzarella and sharp cheddar, but you obviously do not need to use that many iterations), divided
3 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon, juiced and zested
Dippers of your choosing (pita bread, raw carrots, tortilla chips, crackers, baguette, celery, radish, cucumber, potato chips, etc.)
Directions
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Preheat oven to 400. Heat oil over medium-low heat, add onions and shallots and cook, stirring often, until tender and translucent (you're not looking to caramelize them).
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Add garlic, stir and cook 30 seconds until fragrant.
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Deglaze with sherry vinegar, raise heat to medium-high and cook until vinegar has reduced by half (don't directly stand above pan when doing this; the vinegar is intensely pungent when it starts to reduce).
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In a large bowl, mix cream cheese, sour cream, 3/4 of the cheese, lemon juice and zest, salt and pepper.
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Using a slotted spoon, add allium mixture (try to leave as much oil as possible in pan). Mix well.
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Transfer to baking dish, top with remaining cheese and bake in oven for 25 minutes. Turn to broil and cook until top of dip is deeply browned (keep a close eye on it because it can go from "deeply browned" to "burnt" nearly instantaneously).
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Garnish with parsley, let cool 10 minutes, serve with dippers and enjoy.
Cook's Notes
You can totally substitute some citrus juice or any other vinegar for the vinegar; I just like the sherry because it pairs so well with the sautéed alliums.
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