spinach artichoke dip
Ingredients
- 100 g Jerusalem artichokes
- 100 g frozen spinach
- 1 tablespoons cream cheese (if you wanna be fancy, truffle cheese cheese is exceptional)
- butter
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
Instructions
- Put a pan of water on to boil, and put the oven on at 200C. Wash your artichokes and lop any big ones in half. Add 150g to the water (keep the rest aside for now) with a pinch of salt and boil hard for 15 minutes until soft.
- Drain the artichokes and add to a blender, with a pinch of salt, pepper and 25g butter. Blend until smooth, add some water to loosen it up a touch if it needs it.
- With your remaining artichokes (I try and use the smallest ones), slice in half lengthways and lay on a baking tray. Season well and drizzle with oil. Roast in the oven for 10-15 minutes until charred and cooked through.
- Pour the dip mixture into a saucepan and set on a low heat. Add the frozen spinach, pop a lid on and allow the spinach to thaw and melt into the artichokes.
- When cooked, swirl through 2 tablespoons of cream cheese. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
- Serve up the dip in a bowl, top with the roasted artichokes and finish with a swirl of olive oil. Flatbread or chips are perfect for dipping.
Nutrition
I have fond memories of spinach artichoke dip. It seems every New York bar worth its salt has a variation on its menu; as common to a New Yorker as the pretzel, Time Square and the L train. To the uninitiated, artichoke, spinach and cheese may seem an unlikely combination. I couldn’t really imagine a group of dudes pounding beers at a sports bar to scoop up all veggie dip between high-fives.
Even Jerusalem artichokes themselves may raise an eyebrow: these knobbly stones look undesirable, like grubby new potatoes, but they transform with a bit of love and care. Boiled or roasted, their flavour becomes earthy and mushroomy, with hints of truffle. Paired with green cubes of frozen spinach and a thick swirl of cream cheese, artichokes finish their transformation, becoming addictive and made for dipping (as an aside, having a bag of frozen spinach in the freezer is a constant lifesaver, especially when you’re in need of a Popeye-like iron hit).
The one distinctly un-American thing about my version of this classic is the restraint I have on cheese: which I use and how much of it. The dive bar version of this dip would swim in a gut-busting combo of mozzarella and Swiss. By all means grate a load of cheddar into the mix if you must; it would make it Lower East Side authentic. But I honestly think all that dairy masks the delicate flavour of the veg; why take all that time extracting flavour from the artichoke to trash it with cheese? A couple spoons of cream cheese is all you need to bring the flavours together. So there you have it: spinach artichoke dip; perfect with flatbreads, tortilla chips and a glass of something cold.
Originally posted on Feeding Speedy Instagram.
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