Charred Onion Dip (and/or my Flammkuchen sauce)
Author: Pizza Today
Recipe type: appetizers
Courtesy of John Gutekanst, Avalanche Pizza, Athens, Ohio
Ingredients
- 2 large onions cut into ⅛-inch rings
- 1 teaspoon whole fennel seed
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
- 1 cup sour cream or mascarpone cheese
- ⅓ cup chopped roasted red peppers
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place the onion rounds in a pizza pan that has been brushed with all the oil and turn over to coat sprinkle the fennel seed on the onion to toast and release flavor.
- Place the onion pan either in your conveyor or deck oven at 475 F for eight minutes until the bottom of each round is charred, and turn over.
- Cook another four to six minutes to char the other side and place aside to cool.
- When cool, add the cheese, sour cream, roasted red peppers, salt and pepper in a large container or blender and whip with an immersion blender until creamy.
- If you use this for a sauce recipe, it is particularly good using the “Flammkuchen” recipe above.
- I call this the “Double Onion Pie.” Just use the onion sauce, your preferred cheese and then top with thinly sliced raw red onion and bacon.
- This recipe combines the umami deepness of charred onion with cream and a touch of fennel. For the dip, sour cream is used. If you want to make the sauce for pizza, you can use mascarpone cheese. Both rock the house! (Note: the roasted red peppers are mostly for color because the char makes this dip/sauce look horribly brown. The peppers morph it into a deep golden color!)
