With all the Christmas socialising that is going on, I am often finding Mr Man staring into the refrigerator looking for a pick-me-up after his night out. Something that says comfort, something quite heavy and preferably something cheesy. This morning (after what can only be described as a bender), he found this dip, polished it off in next to no time and promptly went back to bed. He woke a couple of hours later feeling fantastic, declaring it a miracle and attributing his quick recovery to the melty, cheesy dip he had previously consumed. This is no lie.
I shouldn’t really be trying to sell this as a ‘morning after’ cure because it is great on any occasion. It is a sensational mix of spinach, artichoke, garlic and melted cheeses that will have you and your guests hanging around the dip bowl at whatever occasion you may serve it at. It is a dish we discovered when we first moved to the US a couple of years ago – it was love at first taste and after playing around with various recipes and ingredients we came up with our own style of making it.
Being baked, it is probably more suited to eating in the colder months but I wouldn’t let that stop you. It would be great at a barbeque washed down with a few beers, really good as part of a casual lunch and as I have already mentioned, a great comfort to any of you out there that might have been tripping the light fantastic, painting the town red or dancing till dawn.
113 grams/4 ounces cream cheese, softened
113 grams/4 ounces marscapone
1/3 cup sour cream
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
salt and pepper to taste
1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 cup cooked & chopped spinach (1 cup after it has been cooked) or 10 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1/4 cup spanish onion, finely chopped
Preheat oven to 350f/175c. Lightly grease a small baking dish.
In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, sour cream, Marscapone, Parmesan cheese, Romano cheese, garlic, salt and pepper, and mozzarella cheese. Gently stir in artichoke hearts, onion and spinach.
Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Bake in the preheated oven 25 minutes, until bubbly and lightly browned.
Notes: Great with breads and pita chips. Really, really good with corn chips.
© 2010 – 2011, Michelle. All rights reserved.
