Heeeeeeeeeeeeyyy! Alright, let’s wrap this party up!!!
We’re on our last recipe of Rory’s birthday party, which was more of a suggestion by Sookie rather than something she actually made, but it sounded reaaaal good, so I had to go for it! At the end of the episode as Lorelai and Sookie are cleaning up, Lorelai mentions she’ll be eating leftover onion dip for breakfast for a week (welcome to my past week after making this recipe). Sookie says mixed with some ground turkey and some garlic and it wouldn’t be too bad.
She was riiiiiiiiiiiiight! (I’m in a real sing-songy mood today - my coffee is still going strong in my bloodstream) Another score for ASP (plus whomever they consulted for these recipe ideas, either way I want to eat dinner with all of them). Now, we don’t have any firm evidence that the onion dip Lorelai was referring to was made from scratch, but if Sookie catered the party as she claimed to Emily, I think it’s a safe assumption.
I like onion dip just fine. I can’t say that I ever knowingly ate homemade onion dip from scratch, but in my time in the kitchen I’ve learned that in most cases homemade is always better, with less ingredients than you would think! Seriously, do yourself a favor and never buy store-bought tomato sauce, alfredo, or in this case, onion dip again! It’s so simple and more economical when you have the ingredients as staples in your pantry.
Because I’m trying to think like Sookie throughout this pursuit, I did get a little boujee on this recipe by roasting a head of garlic to add to the dip, which took a little longer than I had anticipated. I usually try to squeeze a majority of these recipes in during my two-year-olds nap time, and I hadn’t even gotten to sauteing the onions before he woke up, even for having an relatively long nap that day. HOWEVER, each step of this recipe is pretty idle with the exception of babysitting the carmelized onions, so that’s helpful.
Roasting garlic is incredibly easy and absolutely worth it. Just chop the tops off a head of garlic, peel off the majority of the skins, wrap it in foil and pop it in the oven at 450° for about 30 minutes, or until the insides are gooey and golden. (Side note: not gunna lie, I definitely think roasted garlic looks like infection more than salsa verde ever does - E6.06 - Welcome to the Dollhouse) As repugnant as that sounds, roasting the garlic actually softens its bite quite a bit and makes eating raw garlic super palatable, you could literally just put it on a slice of bread.
So, after roasting the garlic I browned up some ground turkey with minimal doctoring. I almost always forget that turkey is white meat and needs to be handled a little more delicately than beef does. I added a few cloves of my roasted garlic, browned the turkey in salt, pepper, a sprinkling of Italian seasoning and added a little bit of zest from a small lemon. Once it’s cooked through you’re good! Don’t touch it again until you mix the dip!
Last but not least, I diced about a cup and a half of yellow onions and caramelized them over medium high heat and lots of olive oil and salt until they were beautiful and golden. I thought it smelled fantastic, but for my husband being someone who is repulsed by anything containing onions, it was his worst nightmare. I encouraged him to stuff a towel under the door frame as he hid in his office at the back of the house.
Once all the cooking is out of the way, just throw everything together with sour cream, mayonnaise, salt, white pepper, a few more cloves of the roasted garlic and a pinch of garlic salt, some chopped parsley plus the onions and ground turkey.
Final Review
With the exception of making a sheet cake with Alexis Bledel’s face on it (don’t think it went unconsidered) all of these party recipes have been faaaaaaaantastic. Just to recap, we spent the last three weeks of recipes partying with mini orange biscuits with honey mustard ham and cheddar cheese, angel wings with dipping sauce and this onion dip with ground turkey and garlic. We have my husband’s graduation party coming up next weekend, and while I haven’t nailed down a final menu yet (very un-Sookie of me) this has been a great primer for some bomb appetizers.
Rating: Worth it! Make it and invite me to your next shin-dig ;)
Onion Dip with Ground Turkey and Garlic
Modified using Alton Brown’s Onion Dip Recipe
Ingredients
Roasted Garlic
1 - 2 heads of whole garlic
Ground Turkey
2 tbsp olive oil
1 lb ground turkey
½ tsp onion powder
¼ tsp italian seasoning
Zest of half a small lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
Onion Dip
3 - 4 tbsp olive oil
1 ½ - 2 c Yellow Onions, diced
Salt
1 ½ cups sour cream
¾ cups mayo
2 cloves roasted garlic
½ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp white pepper
¼ c chopped parsley
Directions
Preheat the oven to 450º. Chop off the top of the heads of garlic and remove the outer layers of the peel. It is okay to leave a thin layer by the outer cloves. Roast in oven for 30 - 40 minutes until the garlic is deep golden brown and soft. Cool before peeling.
Next preheat the olive oil a skillet over medium high heat and lightly cook the roasted garlic before adding the the ground turkey. Add the seasonings and fry until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
While the turkey is cooling, wipe the pan used to brown the turkey and return to the stove to saute the chopped onions in the olive oil. Add salt to taste, but at least ½ tsp. Cook the onions over medium high heat until they are soft and golden, about 20 - 30 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Once all ingredients are cool enough to handle, combine the onion dip ingredients in a large bowl with the caramelized onions and ground turkey. Stir until all ingredients are incorporated and top with extra ground turkey and chopped green onions. Serve with crackers, veggies, sliced baguette, whatever your heart desires! Enjoy!