French Onion Snacks Two Ways
Today I’m embracing the act of New Years-ing. It is in face a verb defined by embracing total veg mode, nursing a that NYE hangover, spending the day in loungewear, and possibly Netflix binging. For days, my plans New Years day plans have entailed watching an embarrassing amount of TV, and I feel pretty great about it. Listen - everyone deserves a day of unproductively to re-group & RELAX, and this is may way to re-collect my thoughts, focus on exuding peaceful, calming energy, and entering the new year on a relaxing note.
January 1 is like one of the worlds most relaxing days & I embrace it every freakin’ year, and just love love love it. A holiday where the socializing is done the night before, it’s acceptable to still have the Christmas decor still in full swing, & a large family get together isn’t required. After the hustle and bustle of Christmas, as a fun as it was, that’s my kinda party. But truly that seems to be the thing - people don’t leave their homes. Even the Trader Joe’s of the world are closed. & Lord knows if Trader Joe’s isn’t even open I truly have no reason to leave. The spirit of the holiday is hunkering down at home & ooooo I love an excuse to just be in my space, and in this case not leave my living room.
In my effort to be a couch potato while not being totally worthless, we’re making it a fun couch potato day, because there is something a day. Give couch potato-ing a purpose, and so we’re incorporating a theme into our New Years TV binge. & our New Years 2019 theme -Star Wars. I shamefully have never seen all of the Star Wars movies & I feel like every time I throw this fact out there, someone in the crowd wants to stone me. But Jordan is the biggest Star Wars fan - his adult life has even included a Star Wars birthday party. We frequently talk about just sitting down and watching them all at once, & today we’re committing to it. Making 2019 our year of action, and popping my Star Wars cherry. Though I would most definitely rather catch up on Real Housewives of New Jersey to find out what Teresa & the gang are up to, I’m invested & kind of eager to see what the all the hypes about.
& even more than my day of couching & movie watching - I’ve been looking forward to a day of SNACKING!! What even is a holiday at home without snaaaaaaccccckkkkkkks. So many snacks! But I’m hang-y & hungry, which I fully anticipated (the key is to be prepared & not hopeful), so I need something easy, quick, & tasty. I whipped up a big batch of caramelized onions that pack that salty, buttery, and addicting French onion flavor we all know & love to make 2 appetizers with one dish. That’s right - 2 apps//1 dish - it’s genius and achievable. I used my caramelized onions to make French Onion Cheesy Pull Apart Bread & French Onion Dip. No packets of a processed, powdered mix, and instead real food made with a real herbs & a veggie, cooked low and relatively slow to bring a truly homemade twist to one of my snack favorites. Also pure genius in my eyes since both snacks are quite quick & easy to prepare once you’ve got your onions good to go, and the flavors in each individual appetizer are unique enough that you still get a true snack variety.
The cheesy bread I made previously for a group of friends, and holy hell it was a hit. The piles of onions on a soft, warm piece of bread with that melty, stringy cheese is stupid good. Not a diet snack, but a very good crowd pleasing, making it for your friends because they’ll be impressed snack. This French onion cheese bread mades its grand entrance to my repertoire this holiday season, & I was so pleased with all the flavor packed in the onions, and it honestly reminded me of cooked down French onion soup. I had a hunch they’d be perfect key ingredient to French onion dip, which I’m shamelessly addicted to. I am also shamelessly addicted to finding homemade replacements to those favorite snacks that you kind of don’t know how they’re made. Now that makes me feel like a badass. So essentially I feel like elevated my bad bitch status via these onions because mixing them with sour cream is heaven. Best. Onion. Dip. Ever!
The perfect snack duo to fuel Star Wars day at the Zehners, and my new go to when making snacks for a crowd, because this shit can also feed some peeps! The hubs and I have leftovers for days.
For the Caramelized Onions
4 tbsp butter
1 tbsp EVOO
6-7 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 yellow onions, diced
2 tbsp Worcestershire
1/2 c. beef stock
Salt & pepper
For the pull apart bread
1 french baguette
1 c. shredded mozzerella
2 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
For the onion dip
2 c. good quality sour cream (none of that non-fat bullshit)
1/2 tsp onion salt (I LOVE the one from Trader Joe's & highly recommend)
Start by caramelizing the onions. Place a large saute pan over medium heat. Add in the thyme sprigs and butter, and let it cook until the butter melts. Immediately add in the onions, leaving the pan over medium heat, and stir in the EVOO. Let the onions cook until they are a nice caramel color and buttery soft, which will take about 20 minutes. You'll want to stir the onions every 3 minutes or so, and make sure you're onions aren't burnings or charring. If they are, slightly lower the heat.
Once the onions have finished cooking, add in the Worcestershire, letting it cook until all the liquid has been absorbed. Next add in the beef broth and a pinch of both salt and pepper. Let the broth and onion cook for another 4-5 minutes until the liquid has cooked off. Then go ahead and turn off the heat. Now it's time to divide the onion mixture in half.
Start by whipping up the pull apart bread. Preheat the onion to 350. Cut the top off of the baguette, avoid cutting the baguette in half, and hollow out the baguette to create a "boat" with your baguette. You can remove 80% of the bread, leaving the crusted edges and a bit of buffer to create the desirable boat affect. Sprinkle a thin layer of the mozz on the bottom baguette (about a 1/4 cup), and then add in half of the onion mixture. Sprinkle the remaining mozzerella on top of the onion mixture. Bake the entire bread boat in the oven for 8-10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and slightly browns.
As the bread bakes, quickly mix up the onion dip by stirring together the remaining half of the onion mixture, sour cream, and onion salt. It's ready to eat right away, but will be even better if left to chill in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.
By the time you’re done stirring together the onion dip, the bread should be finished. Once removed from the oven, finish off the pull apart bread by sprinkling the parsley right on top. To serve it up, slice the baguette into slices no bigger than 2 inches thick, and serve your onion dip with chips and crisp crudite. Done & easy as can be!
