I used to love this dip back in my, well, both omni and vegetarian days. It's a very common appetiser in restaurants back home but I have never seen it over here. Now it's not a very vegan friendly dish, calling for usually, cream cheese, parmesan and/or mayo and sour cream! There are so many recipes out there with tons of variations but I decided to veganise one that looked fairly straightforward by simply replacing the dairy versions with their vegan counterparts.
Well, I absolutely loved it!! I can't say how much it tasted like the 'original' as it's been years since I've had it but I can say it was very good in it's own right. What doesn't come through in the picture is how light and creamy it is! No broken chips dipping into this dip ;) Now, certainly I didn't like the vegan cream cheese, mayo or cheezly when I first had them 2 years ago but now love them, and this recipe calls for all three!! So, do make sure you like the replacements although I was thinking nutritional yeast would be a good taste with this so may try at some point making it with a nooch based alfredo sauce - I'm sure it would be just as good :)
Whenever I had this in restaurants back home they would be served with warmed red and blue corn chips. I've never seen them over here until I saw this bag at Asda of all places, and they're organic to boot! This range had other flavours too, a flax seed and soya one looked nice too, but the blue chips go perfectly with this dip.
Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip:
125g raw spinach, washed
125g artichoke hearts, I used chargrilled marinated ones in a jar
85g tofutti cream cheese
35g vegan garlic mayo, I use plamil
25g super melting mozzarella cheezly
1/8 tsp red chili flakes
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
1/8 tsp garlic powder
Boil the spinach in salted water until tender, just a couple minutes. Drain well pressing the spinach a bit as you do. Place the artichoke hearts into a food processor and just process until it looks finely chopped. Add the spinach and process until it just comes together. You could just pulse a few times if you want the spinach 'chunkier'- I wanted my dip a bit smoother. In another bowl whisk together the remaining ingredients then add to a small saucepan with the spinach and artichoke mixture. Heat gently and mix well until the cheezly melts and it's nice and warm.
If having with the corn chips, heat the oven to 200C and place some chips on a baking sheet. Just heat up in the oven until nice and fragrant and warmed up - shouldn't take longer than 5 minutes. Serve at once.
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oh wow it looks and sounds amazing! blue corn chips are so gorgeous
ReplyDeleteOh my god these are my FAVOURITE chips! And I used to avoid tortilla chips at all costs, I hated them! So I thought, 'Blue corn chips = ugh!'. Then my boyfriend bought them one day with salsa...and I tried them and it was love at first sight...! Now I have to hide the package in the back of the cupboard, I could eat the bag in one go...!
ReplyDeleteThis dip looks so lovely :)yum!
Cheers Philippa! :)
ReplyDeleteSweet -they are so good aren't they? I had them and the dip for lunch then my husband, son and I finished the bag off in the evening! Gutted I only bought the 1 bag now, or maybe that's a good thing ;) too good!!
This looks VERY NICE! We love guacamole, but it's difficult to get avocadoes in a decent condition, so this looks like a great alternative! Thanks for the recipe!
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you very much for the lovely award! You're so sweet! :o)
(What would I do without exclamation marks and the caps lock key?!?)
Thanks Penny :) and your more than welcome for the award, just a little thing but I have always loved your blog! Hope you get to make the dip and like it. Back home it's often served in a hollowed out wholegrain round bread loaf. You then take chunks of the bowl and dip in! Just another idea there :)
ReplyDeleteSpinach and artichoke dip is truly the king of all dips, thanks for the recipe!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely yummy for potlucks too. Very easy to make.
ReplyDelete