Summer veggies just wanna be dipped. Faced with a deluge of tomatoes, cucumbers and sweet peppers from my garden, I remembered a goat cheese-onion dip recipe that a chef shared with me recently—an update of the sour-cream classic. I dug out the recipe, made it and thought: Hmmm. Good but too cheffy. I can simplify this.

Any plain, rindless chèvre that you enjoy will work in this recipe. I used Laura Chenel Fresh Goat Cheese, which is widely available. I also tried it with Trader Joe’s fresh goat cheese. I have no clue who makes that product—possibly the supplier varies by region—but it was too tart and chalky.

I whisk the goat cheese with a little buttermilk until it’s dippable, then fold in fresh chives, a few scrapings of garlic and a heap of slow-cooked crispy fried shallots. Salt and pepper and that’s that. Assemble a colorful platter of dippables and you’re good to go. Roasted golden beets are especially nice with this dip. If you don’t thin the mixture quite so much, you can use it as a bruschetta spread; top with roasted peppers or halved cherry tomatoes.

Vermont Creamery’s new Classic Goat Cheese Dip contains nothing but goat cheese and salt, so you could use it as the base for this recipe. It needs a little thinning, but not much.

Goat Cheese and Fried Shallot Dip

Don’t discard the flavorful oil drained from the fried shallots. Use it in a salad dressing, in a tomato sauce for pasta or on cooked greens.

• 1 cup thinly sliced shallots

• ¼ cup olive oil or canola oil

• 4 ounces plain rindless goat cheese, such as Laura Chenel, at room temperature

• 4 to 5 tablespoons buttermilk

• Thinly sliced fresh chives

• 1 small clove garlic, grated with a Microplane or finely minced

• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pat the shallots dry on paper towels. Heat the oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-low heat. Add the shallots and sauté, stirring often, until they turn dark brown, 12 to 15 minutes. For the first few minutes, it will seem like nothing is happening, but once the shallots start to brown, they darken quickly. Stir almost constantly during the final minutes so they darken evenly without burning.

Drain the shallots in a small sieve set over a bowl. Spread the drained shallots on a paper towel and let cool until crisp.

Put the goat cheese in a bowl and whisk in enough buttermilk to thin to desired consistency. Fold in the shallots and most of the chives, reserving some for garnish. Stir in garlic to taste, then season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl and top with reserved chives. Serve immediately with summer vegetables for dipping.

Makes about 1 cup