Call me old fashioned, but I love onion dip. I used to make myself sick before parties by tasting the onion dip every few minutes to make sure the flavor had not changed. (What can change in 20 minutes?) But along with advancing age came my body’s inability to tolerate too much salt. (Come now Patti, be truthful, and mention your little issue with high blood pressure!) Anyway, I can’t eat the old dry onion soup mix added to a pint of sour cream version. Truth be told (again with the truth thing), because the dry soup mix is so salty, I don’t even enjoy the original version. Serve this dip with thick, lower sodium (sigh) potato chips and the lowly onion will prove once again that it is a super star in the vegetable realm.

• 3 T. extra virgin olive oil
• 2 large white or yellow onions, finely diced
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• ¼ tsp. white pepper
• 2-3 tsp. beef base*
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• ¼ tsp. granulated garlic
• 16-oz. container (2 cups) sour cream
• thick plain potato chips (like Tim’s lightly salted potato chips)

Pour olive oil into a large sauté pan. Add onions, salt, and pepper and cook until onions are caramelized (golden brown), but not to the point where they are becoming a mushy mess. It usually takes at least 20-30 minutes to caramelize white onions. (I use white or yellow onions because they are not too sweet. You do not want a sweet onion for this recipe.) Meanwhile combine the beef base, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and sour cream in a small bowl. When the onions are caramelized, remove from heat and stir in the sour cream mixture. Refrigerate at least 24 hours before serving.