Some of you are going to scroll down and look at the cook time for these onions and immediately write this recipe off. I see you, I hear you, I understand you but I am going to still encourage you to make this recipe. Creamy dairy with fragrant golden onions is deliciously nostalgic to just about everyone. There is nothing I would rather dive into while relaxing outside on a beautiful spring day.
In today’s recipe, we are only doing one thing – confit-ing alliums.
Let’s Chat About Confit
If you submerge an item in fat and cook it low and slow, that is confit. This was originally done as a preservation method. The slow cooking process removes all the moisture and when the item, say duck legs, were then cooled and sealed under the layer of fat, they would be able to keep for weeks.
You can confit more than just duck legs. At the end of summer, I usually do a batch of cherry tomatoes and enjoy them on ricotta toast. Garlic confit is another item that is delicious to have around. You can confit just about any vegetable you have to transform its texture and flavor into something a little more special.
There are two ways you can confit an item. Submerging it in liquid fat and placing it in a low oven, around 200º Fahrenheit. That is the traditional method. Or you can cover an item in liquid fat and place it on the stove over low heat and confit the item that way. That is the method we are using today.
The only adjustment I am making to the way we confit is that we are not fully submerging our alliums to start. I’m having us do this because we would have to use a ton of olive oil to fully submerge them plus the alliums shrink down after a bit of cooking anyway.
After the alliums are submerged, we are going to carefully cook the crap out of them. You’ll watch them shrink and shrink. Then they will start to pick up color and turn golden brown. Make sure to stir often so no pieces spend too much time on the bottom and burn. We are cooking these onions a little further than a traditional confit would but that’s okay. This is an allium confit-ish.
Let’s Back Up and Cover Ingredients
Alliums
I refer to this recipe as an allium party because I use a few different types. Yellow onion, sweet onion, shallots, scallions, and garlic. The reason I do this is that they all bring different flavors to the party. If you don’t have all five at home, you can absolutely substitute other options and the recipe will turn out just fine. The three important players are yellow onion, shallot, and garlic.
All of these alliums will be shaped differently but think about getting them to the same thickness when slicing. This ensures they all cook in the same time frame.
Olive oil
I know the thought of using 1 + 1/4 cups of olive oil in a single recipe is scary. You are going to use about half of the oil for the dip and have a good amount leftover. That leftover oil now enhances anything you add it to. It is infused with delicious allium flavor and is liquid gold! It should never be wasted.
My favorite way to use it is in salad dressings and Marco likes the flavor it adds to scrambled eggs. Last night I steamed some vegetables and drizzled the allium oil on top. Don’t use your fancy finishing olive oil here! Your standard everyday olive oil is all you need.
Once the alliums are golden you will strain them from the olive oil. The golden alliums get sprinkled over the labneh and some oil is drizzled on top. Cool the rest of the olive oil and store it for later.
Labneh
If you have never used labneh all you really need to know is that it is strained yogurt. Yogurt is made by introducing cultures to milk. You can strain that yogurt to make Greek yogurt which is firm and thick. If you continue to strain it past Greek yogurt consistency you will get a super thick yogurt which is labneh. Because of its texture labneh is sometimes referred to as cheese or “yogurt cheese.”
Look for labneh in the yogurt section at your grocery store. If it is not there, sometimes it will be with the cheeses or in the hummus section. If you can’t find any, Greek yogurt is a great substitution. Regular yogurt is too soft and not right for this recipe.
Aleppo pepper, Lemon, and Dill
All three of these get added on top of the labneh, onions, and olive oil. The acidity from the lemon helps cut through the richness, Aleppo pepper adds a bit of sweet heat, and dill adds some freshness. You get to add as much of each ingredient as you like. When they all mingle together it’s pretty magical!
Once you have made your onion dip you then need vessels to dip into it. Crudité is always a good option. Carrots, celery, cucumbers, and radishes are my favorite. After slicing, let them sit in an ice bath to crisp up. Ruffles are an old-school classic for onion dip, obviously. Pita chips or toasted pita bread are also very lovely with the labneh. The choice is yours!
Enjoy this recipe now that the weather is warming up. It is the perfect thing to set out for friends while hosting outside.
Labneh Onion Dip
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 sweet onion, thinly sliced
6 shallots, thinly sliced
6 garlic cloves, halved (sliced if large)
1 bunch of scallions, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 + ¼ cup olive oil
2 cups labneh or Greek yogurt
1 lemon, zested and juiced
Fresh dill
Aleppo pepper
Black pepper
Flaky salt
Slice the alliums as thin and evenly as possible. There will be some variation in shape for each type but even thickness is important. Arrange alliums in a pan that fits them in a snug even layer. Avoid a pan too small, where they are piled on top of each other, and a pan too large, which will require extra oil. I use a 10-inch pan.
Add about 1 + ¼ cup of olive oil to the alliums. The olive oil doesn’t need to submerge them completely but should come up at least halfway. The alliums will shrink as they cook and then be submerged.
Turn your stove to medium-low and cook the alliums for about 60-75+ minutes. Go with visual cues here. Thickness and crowding in the pan will affect the overall cook time. If your onions don’t look golden at 75 minutes, go a few extra minutes.
They will gently bubble and shimmer in the oil, shrink down, and eventually they will pick up color. It may feel like forever but do not crank up the heat. Stir every few minutes to prevent pieces on the bottom from burning. Once almost all the alliums look golden brown, remove them from the heat.
Strain alliums from the olive oil, reserving both.
On a serving plate or bowl, spread and swoosh the labneh or Greek yogurt. Sprinkle with salt. Drizzle with a generous amount of reserved olive oil and spread the cooked allium mixture evenly on top. Finish with a sprinkle of Aleppo pepper, the zest from one lemon, a squeeze of lemon juice, some extra flaky salt, a little (or a lot) of fresh dill, and a generous fresh crack of black pepper.
Serve with crudité, potato chips, pita bread, or your dipping vessel of choice. I like to place small bowls of Aleppo pepper, sliced lemons, salt, pepper, and extra olive oil with a spoon for drizzling close by. This allows people to create their perfect bite.
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Talk to you next week! M
This Sunday for brunch !