food post

Artichoke Melty Goodness

• 1 whole artichoke, preferably a globe artichoke but a jumbo artichoke will do
• 1 8oz pack cream cheese. I tried it with reduced fat cream cheese and it worked fine
• 1 8.5oz can (drained) artichoke hearts in water
• 1/2 pack (5oz) frozen spinach, thawed and drained
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese, or as much as you have left if you've already started cooking and you discover you don't have 1/2 cup
• 2 garlic cloves
• 6 large fresh basil leaves from the convenient pot of basil in your garden
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground pepper, or whatever's that approximate amount because you can't easily dispense pepper from the grinder into a teaspoon
• a handfull of shredded melty cheese; I usually keep mozzarella/cheddar around

1. Boil a big pot of water to cook an artichoke (as in this post, except without the garlic butter)
2. Pre-heat the oven to 375° and put all your ingredients - EXCEPT the mozzarella/cheddar and the whole artichoke - into a blender or food processor and blend them up.
3. When the artichoke is cooked, put it in cold water until it's cool enough to handle, then hollow it out.
4. pour the dip into the artichoke and top with cheese. Bake for 30 minutes
5. serve with bread. It's melty and delicious!

I'm testing this recipe because I'm planning to make it for the thesis defense later this month. I think it's a winner! Next time, I'd use less spinach and more parmesan.