Blue Cheese and Caramelized Shallot Dip

Photo from Epicurious

Source: Epicurious

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups thinly sliced shallots (about 4 ounces)
3/4 cup mayonnaise
3/4 cup sour cream
4 ounces blue cheese, room temperature

Heat oil in heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add shallots. Cover and cook until shallots are deep golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Cool.
Whisk together mayonnaise and sour cream in medium bowl to blend. Add blue cheese. Using rubber spatula, mash mixture until smooth. Stir in caramelized shallots. Season dip to taste with salt and pepper. Cover dip and refrigerate until flavors blend, about 2 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep refrigerated.)

Serve dip chilled or at room temperature.

Makes about 2 cups.

Bon Appétit
March 2001

My notes: This dip is very easy to put together and has lots of flavor. I followed the advice of the reviewers on Epicurious and chopped the shallots instead of slicing in order to avoid having stringy bits of shallot in the dip. I also prepared it a day ahead of time and the flavor of the shallots definitely came through much better the next day. I served it with kettle cooked potato chips and garlic pita chips.

I talked about this recipe here: Something sweet and something savory...

Buffalo Chicken Burgers with Blue Cheese Dressing

Source: based on Rachael Ray's 365: No Repeats

Serves 4.

Vegetable oil, for drizzling
1 pound ground chicken (she calls for 1 1/3 pounds ground turkey breast)
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning (she calls for 1 1/2 teaspoon)
1 1/2 teaspoons grill seasoning, such as McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning (she calls for 1 tablespoon)
2 garlic cloves, chopped
4 scallions, finely chopped
1 celery rib from the heart, with greens, finely chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup hot sauce, such as Frank's Red Hot
Crusty rolls, split
1/2 cup sour cream, reduced-fat sour cream, or Ranch dressing (she calls for 1 cup)
1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles (she calls for 1/2 cup)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
leaf lettuce

Place a healthy drizzle of oil in a mixing bowl. Add the turkey, poultry seasoning, grill seasoning, garlic, scallions, and celery. Mix the burgers and form into 4 1-inch-thick patties.

Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and cook the burgers for 6 minutes on each side (I think I did less - about 4-5 minutes). Remove to a plate.

Wipe the pan clean and reduce the heat to low. Melt the butter in the pan. Add the hot sauce to the melted butter. Return the patties to the skillet and turn to coat in the hot sauce-butter mixture. Place the burgers on bun bottoms. In a small bowl, mix the sour cream or Ranch dressing with the blue cheese crumbles and season with salt and pepper. Top the burgers with lettuce and blue cheese sauce, then set the bun tops in place.

I talked about this recipe HERE.