Chef Red’s New England Recipe:

Slump Buster Spinach Artichoke Dip

This week we travel to London, England to take on of all teams the New England Patriots.  The Patriots are coming off a 59-0 thrashing and look unstoppable.  Now, when thinking about this week’s recipe, it took a while to come up with a theme.  First, the only thing I know about England’s food scene is that I don’t want to eat it.  As for the Massachusetts area, I am not going to expect anyone to buy Lobster in this economy.  So it finally hit me, what do teams do when they are on a losing streak?  They go out and get a slump buster.  Now as I am not about to buy 53 hookers for the Bucs players, I add my own spin on a slump buster.  Watching our team this year I feel that our team needs quite a bit more strength.  Well Popeye got his bursts of muscles from spinach, so why not the Bucs.  I have made this dip for years and everyone loves it, so it seemed like a win-win this week.  Without further anticipation, I offer my Slump Buster Spinach Artichoke Dip.

Ingredients

• 1 (14 ounce) can of drained artichoke hearts
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1-2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 ½ teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ¼ cup unsalted butter
• 2 (8 ounce) packages of cream cheese at room temperature
• 1 (16 ounce) container of sour cream

Directions

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Once the butter is melted, stir in the thawed spinach and artichoke hearts.  Cook about 5 minutes or until they are tender.  Next add the cream cheese and sour cream to the pan.  Stir until the mixture is well blended.  Next add the parmesan cheese, garlic salt, and black pepper.  Cook the mixture until it thickens, which usually takes 10-15 minutes.  While the mixture cooks, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Taste and add additional garlic salt and black pepper if needed.

Once the mixture is thick enough, add to a greased 9 by 13 pan.  Top the mixture with the mozzarella cheese.  Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the cheese is melting and bubbly on top of the pan.  Serve with tortilla chips for dipping.

*This recipe yields 4-8 servings.  Make sure you increase all amounts equally when tailgating with more friends.

 

 

“Remember, tailgating isn’t fun unless you’re full, surrounded by friends, and have an ice cold beverage in your hand, and watching the Bucs on a Sunday.”

 

Red75