Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Another Restaurant Favorite At Home

Over the holidays I made another recipe from Good Things Catered that we loved. Spinach artichoke dip is one of my favorite appetizer at restaurants, so I decided to give it another shot at home. A few months ago, I made a different recipe with all low fat/free ingredients, and it just did not taste right. This recipe did not disappoint, it was wonderful, cheesy & had so much flavor. I think that roasting the artichokes, using fresh spinach, and using a mixture of cheeses makes it so much better. I served it with grilled slices of Italian bread, tortilla chips and homemade pita chips.

Roasted Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Good Things Catered

Ingredients:

2 (14 oz) cans of premium artichoke hearts
3 Tbsp olive oil
salt and ground black pepper
16 oz. baby spinach leaves
1 medium onion, minced
2 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1/4 c. mayonnaise
4 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 c. assorted cheeses, grated (I used pecorino, parmesan, asiago, mozzarella, and fontina)
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp minced thyme leaves
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and line baking sheet with foil. Toss drained artichokes with 1 tbsp oil, ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp ground black pepper. Spread out over the baking sheet and roast, stirring occasionally, until browned at the edges, about 25 minutes.

Let the artichoke cool and chop coarse. Meanwhile heat 1 tbsp oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium high heat until just shimmering.

Sauté spinach until wilted and drain thoroughly and transfer. Add the remaining 1 tbsp oil to pan and add the onion. Cook for until softened, about 5 -7 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Transfer to bowl with spinach.

Stir in mayo, cream cheese, cheeses, lemon juice, thyme, and cayenne until uniform. Add more cheese as needed...I did ;)

Gently fold in artichokes and season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer mixture to large baking dish and sprinkle with parmesan. (Here you can cover and refrigerate up to three days if needed)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake dip uncovered until hot throughout and top is golden brown, about 20-25 minutes. Let cool at least 5 minutes before serving.

3 comments:

What's Cookin Chicago said...

I need to try roasting my artichokes before making the dip - it looks delicious1

Anonymous said...

YAY! So glad you liked it!!! :) Looks great!

Anonymous said...

Yum! That is one of my favorite dips!