Bacon Onion Crab (or Shrimp) Dip

Dips with a kick are perfect for a party especially when it is SEC season down in the south, the Super Bowl or just about anything. But every region, every country has their big events and this Bacon Onion Crab dip is an amazingly good dish to have out for guests to begin the party with.

The critical element of this dish is fresh crab meat from a quality store. If not, use shrimp. The crab meat sold at grocery stores is just awful.

This recipe is for a big party, you can easily cut it in half for 12-14 people, but this all depends on what else and how much of other items you are serving.

Ingredients

1/2 pound of FRESH crab meat or raw peeled and deveined shrimp, rough chopped
10 ounces of cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese
2/3 cup of good quality mayonnaise
1 medium yellow onion, to be caramelized with olive oil and butter (see below)
5 strips of thickly cut roasted bacon, should yield 1 cup chopped
1/4 cup red bell pepper, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 cup jalapeño peppers, seeded and finely chopped
4 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon of Old Bay seasoning to dust on top
Kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper pepper to taste
Crostini

Making It

Caramelize the onion by putting a sauté pan over medium head with a tablespoon of unsalted butter and the same about of extra virgin olive oil, when melted and bubbly add the peeled onion that should be cut into 1/4 in half moon slices, cook for then minutes, reduce to medium-low head and cook for another 30 minutes, stirring often, let cool and do a rough chop of the onions
Turn the over to 400 degrees, put the bacon on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and cook roughly 20 minutes, until crisp, remove from oven, place on paper towels to drain the grease, let cool
Bring the oven to 325 degrees
Mix all of the ingredients together, except for the old bay, put in a baking good looking baking dish, sprinkle Old Bay on top and bake for 30 to 40 minutes on the middle rack of the oven. It should be golden on top