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Thursday, May 13, 2010

Zeke's Artichoke Surprise

This is my first blog post on the appropriately named “Worst Vegetarian Ever” site, so bear with me…

This is very simple recipe for everyone’s favorite happy hour treat – Artichoke Dip. There are lots of variations of the classic tortilla chip dipping food. But I got this one mix by watching an old man whip it up in all of 4 minutes before a BBQ. I thought, hell, I can do that. I made it a week later for family and friends – including Wilma – and it was a hit. The old man didn’t use measurements so neither did I. The best recipes are ones that are made with the eye and can evolve with each time out. Keep that in mind when making the dip. Here’s the recipe…

Zeke’s Artichoke Surprise

What you need:
1 can artichoke hearts
1 can black olives
1 spoon full of minced garlic from a jar
1 bag of 4 cheese blend (bigger the better)
1 heavy pour from a bag or can of grated parmesan cheese
6 healthy turns of fresh ground pepper (or more)
3 solid scoops of mayonnaise
· Optional Hot sauce

What you do:

Chop up the artichoke hearts in a few pieces. You don’t need to dice these too much because they will break down in the oven, but get them into sizes you would want to see on your chip and add to a large mixing bowl.

Then cut up olives into 3-4 slices per olive and toss them in the bowl. If you used pre-diced olives you can just throw them in the bowl as is, minus that nasty grey water they keep them in.
Add garlic and mix up current ingredients.

Now add the cheeses and mayo. You don’t want the mix to be soupy, however you want a good amount of mayo so that you aren’t dipping into a solid gooey cheese bowl, as appetizing as that sounds.

Add the pepper and any other spices you think will make it taste good. You won’t need any extra salt because the olives and artichokes will have enough in them already.

I personally like to add some chili powder or hot sauce just to give it a small kick

Mix the whole thing up and then put in a casserole dish ready for baking, evenly spreading out the top like a batch of brownies.

Place dish in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until the top turns golden. You can also cook for 30 and then broil the top for a few minutes for a crunchy top.

Crack a beer and wait.

When dip is done, finish your beer, crack another and grab chips. Eat.

1 comment:

  1. Zeke?

    Well, Zeke, I happened to taste the aforementioned dish and will attest that it was quite a hit with the assembled masses who seemed to devour it rather quickly.

    ReplyDelete