Adapted from Ottolenghi’s recipe in Nopi for Burnt Green Onion Dip

We actually had the burnt green onion dip on flat bread at the lunch with Ottolenghi and Scully at Camino.  It was really delicious and reminded me so much of the old 70’s standby French Onion Dip.  Obviously we don’t have green onions in the box, so I played with one of our regular onions today, and it is really good.  I used drained yogurt, because I have loads of it. If you have a greek yogurt in the house, I am sure that would work just fine.

For the Dip:

1 medium sized Onion, peeled and sliced into 1 1/2” thick slices

4 to 5 cloves of Garlic, not peeled

Olive oil for the grill pan

1 cup Greek Yogurt 

OR 2/3 cup Cream Cheese + 1/2 cup Sour Cream

Salt and Pepper

You must be a little brave taking on this cooking task, because the pan has to be smoking hot and you have to let the onions char.  Most of us home cooks tend to be afraid of that much heat, but turn your vents on, open a window and go for it!  Get a grill pan smoking hot (literally), brush on a bit of olive oil or other oil good for high temps, then place the thick onion slices right on in there, along with the cloves of unpeeled garlic.  Let it cook on high until much of the cooked side is charred, then turn over and repeat on the opposite side.  Flip the garlic cloves around, too.  Once the onion is blackened and the garlic is soft when pierced with a knife, remove from the pan and allow to cool a bit.  Peel the garlic.  Put the onion, garlic, yogurt or cream cheese/sour cream combo, salt and pepper into a food processor and pulse several times.  Scrape down what is on the sides of the bowl, taste, adjust seasoning and pulse a bit more.  You can add some olive oil to this mix. I found that as I was using regular onion, they added a fair bit of moisture and the oil wasn’t really necessary.  Process until it is the consistency you like.

For the Kale:

4 TB Olive Oil

4 cloves of Garlic, thinly sliced

2 large Red Chiles, seeded and thinly sliced

1 Red Russian Kale, washed, tough stems removed, cut widthwise into 1 1/2” slices

2 tsp Lemon Juice

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high.  Add the garlic and chile slices and fry for 4 to 6 minutes, stirring constantly until crisp and golden brown.  Add the kale, along with 1 1/2 tsp of salt and a good grind of black pepper, and cook for 3 minutes - you might need to do this in two or three batches - stirring often, until the kale is cooked, but still retains a bite.  Remove from the heat, add the lemon juice, and serve warm on a large platter or individual starter plates, with dollops of the onion dip spooned on top.