Restaurant favourites

Whenever we go to a restaurant that has artichoke and spinach dip on the menu, my son will always order it. He loves it, and it is a great sharing appetizer. So when he wanted to buy a frozen product to have at a home, I told him I would show him how to make it himself. I told him that it was pretty simple to make once you have all your ingredients together. I like to use the no name frozen chopped spinach because it is really inexpensive and convenient. Just thaw, drain and squeeze any excess liquid out. You don’t need to bother cooking down fresh spinach for a recipe like this. The extra parmesan on top gives it a golden finish. You can use fine bread crumbs instead, or I will sprinkle ground almonds on top. I have different almonds at home, but you don’t have to purchase more than one kind. I like to use slivered or sliced almonds in the dip because they give a little texture, but just using ground almonds will work too. You can bake it in one dish or put it in smaller ramekins and just bake a little at a time. We use the toaster oven. You can double the recipe and freeze it as well. Pull it out and bake from frozen when you want some hot dip for snacking with company or by yourself.

Baked artichoke and spinach dip
1 14oz can artichoke hearts

250g cream cheese

300g frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

Juice of ½ lemon

Freshly ground black pepper

Extra parmesan for topping

Preheat oven to 400°F. Drain artichokes and put into food processor, pulse to coarsely chop and add cream cheese, spinach, almonds, parmesan, onion, and garlic. Puree until smooth. Add lemon juice and black pepper. Puree until just blended. Pour into baking dish or ramekins and sprinkle top with more parmesan. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly bubbling and top is golden brown.

Makes 10-12 servings.