Spinach & Artichoke Baked Dip
The whole "appetiser" thing - it's a bit of an awkward one. You either try hard and make a nice bruschetta on little toasts or bail and go for the bag of chips. When we have people round for dinner (which is 90% of the time, grandparents) we usually go for the crisps because 9 times out of ten we forget until the last minute. But there is a better solution I promise folks. Don't stress. It lies in the somewhat American (??) concoction - the warm dip. It's genius if I do say so myself. People go nuts for this and so they should. I would say the perfect minimum number of people to get into this dish is eight people, because generally, they want to go back for fifth and sixth helpings, and well...with eight or more people then they become slightly scared that it will be gone before they even get seconds. So, in other words, it gets gobbled up rather fast - which is AMAZING if you are the one who made it. Next thing you know compliments will be flying at you left, right and centre and they'll be putting their order in for the next time they visit. The only thing is to make sure you get some yourself. Anyhoos - it's a real success (the hot dip) whenever I bring it to a "do" and now it's time to share with you my very own delicious concoction.
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw cashews, soaked (for 6 hours minimum), drained and rinsed
- 1 cup potato, cubed, boiled and drained
- 5 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- salt & pepper
- 3/4 cup plant mylk
- 1 tbsp hulled tahini
- 2 tsp mixed herbs
- 1/2 tsp smoked/sweet paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 400g tin artichoke, drained, rinsed and finely chopped
- 250g frozen spinach, defrosted and drained
- panko crumbs (or GF bread crumbs if required)
- corn chips, to serve
Method
- Pre-heat your oven to 200C fan-forced.
- In a blender (or food processor if need be), blend the first eleven ingredients until smooth. Note that you do want it to be a little too salty and a little too "cheesy" from the nutritional yeast as it is a dip and you it needs to be quite strong in flavour.
- Lightly grease an ovenproof dish (like a casserole dish or cast-iron pan) with coconut oil or vegan butter. Tip the artichoke and spinach into the dish and mix around to evenly disperse with a spoon.
- Pour over the "cheese" sauce and mix to combine with a spoon so there are no more clumps of spinach.
- Sprinkle with the panko crumbs generously and top with an extra pinch of salt.
- Place in the oven and leave to crisp up and warm through for 15 minutes. Serve with corn chips. This dip is even better the next day too actually (if there are any leftovers).