Hot Caramelized Onion Dip with Bacon and Gruyere

My husband and I had a great time on our anniversary trip to New York City and I can't believe we've already gone and come back.  All I can say is thank goodness you do a lot of walking in that city or I would be in trouble.  Besides the prerequisite NY bagels and pizza, my husband fell on the sword and accompanied me to my favorite breakfast place, Alice's Tea Cup and oh my, are their scones divine-- and with so many different flavors to choose from.  You may remember me talking about this favorite little tea shop before, and I've also made a couple of recipes from their cookbook on my blog.  It was great to get to go again, and even hubby enjoyed his breakfast so much he was OK with being in a tea house. :)  We also had an incredible anniversary dinner at Balthazar, a delicious charming French bistro in SoHo that was definitely a highlight! It was a great trip and a nice way to celebrate 5 years!

So I'm a little late getting my post up in preparation for Super Bowl party planning but I wanted to make sure I posted about this dip.  It may not seem like your standard Super Bowl party dip but it is GO-OD.  I promise. If you show up and people wonder why you are bringing a dip with Gruyere to a Super Bowl Party, just tell them that it also has bacon, and after they've had one bite and then devoured the whole dish they won't ask silly questions like that anymore. :)

This dip is pretty straightforward.  The only part that is slightly time-consuming is caramelizing the onions. After you've done that and fried the bacon until it's crisp, you just mix all the ingredients and bake. I like this dip with toast rounds but it would be great with crackers or pita chips.  I think this would also be good served with crisp apple wedges like Granny Smith or Honey Crisp.

Ingredients:
2 tsp. butter
1 tsp. olive or vegetable oil
2 onions (about 1 pound), halved and thinly sliced (I used sweet onions but you can also use Spanish)
1/4 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1 tbs. apple cider or sherry vinegar
1/2 tsp minced fresh thyme
3 applewood-smoked bacon strips
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded Gruyere cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Melt butter with oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onions, sugar, and salt; cook, stirring occasionally, 8 minutes or until onions soften and just begin to turn golden.  Reduce heat to medium, and cook, stirring often, 20 minutes or until onions turn deep golden brown.  Stir in vinegar, scraping bottom of skillet to deglaze pan.  Cook, stirring often, until vinegar is reduced by half.  Stir in thyme.  Pour onions onto a plate and set aside.

2.  Cook bacon in a large skillet (I just used the same skillet from the onions to cut down on another pot to wash) over medium-high heat 8 to 10 minutes or until crisp.  Drain on paper towels; finely crumble.

3.  Combine cheese and next 3 ingredients in a medium bowl.  Stir in onions and bacon.  Spray a 2-cup baking dish with cooking spray and transfer mixture into dish.

4.  Bake 15- 20 minutes or until mixture bubbles and top is lightly golden.

Yield:  2 cups

Adapted from Coastal Living