New uses for a tired dip

Though it baffles me, I know people are gearing up for Super Bowl watch parties, planning extravagant spreads of snacks and dips. And you can bet artichoke/spinach dip will be on many cocktail tables. It’s everywhere and has been for years. In fact, some might be getting a bit tired of it.

Recipes abound on the internet, but basically it’s fresh spinach, wilted, canned artichoke hearts, a bit of garlic, Parmesan, cream cheese or sour cream or both. And it’s baked and served warm with crackers or tortilla chips. Hellman’s has a recipe that features, you know, their mayo, and the Hidden Valley folks have a recipe that uses ranch dressing mix. I don’t suppose it makes a whole lot of difference which recipe you choose. They’re all quick and easy to do, and like the classic French onion sour cream dip, everyone loves it.

But recently I’ve found some recipes that give that old dog new life. It makes a couple of great vegetarian entrees. Easiest: a baked pasta dish. Cook pasta—rotini or shells or fusilli, something with a bit of heft, in boiling water per directions, but pull it off the stove and quickly drain about three or four minutes shy of the al dente stage. Mix it with a tub of prepared spinach/artichoke dip, cover the whole thing generously with fresh Parmesan or Pecorino, and bake, probably at 350 for 20 minutes. Watch how it browns. Theoretically, the pasta will finish cooking, and the sauce will thicken. A rich but good main dish.

Want to make your own sauce? Here’s a rough idea: Sauté a couple of cloves of minced garlic in olive oil. Add spinach to the skillet, in small bunches, and cook until it is wilted. Stir in one can drained, chopped artichoke hearts—or chop them yourself if need be. Not hard.  Stir in 4 oz. cream cheese, softened, ¼ cup sour cream,  and 1/3 cup mozzarella. Stir to blend and pile it into a casserole dish. Cover generously with grated Parmesan or Pecorino.

Recently, Jordan, my friend Jean, and I were having a girls’ night supper. I had found a recipe for open-faced sandwiches using this mix. It seems one mom of young kids and picky eaters was trying hard to find something they’d eat. Spinach/artichoke dip on toasted sourdough bread was a hit. We liked it too, and I regret not taking a picture.

Ingredients

1 bunch fresh spinach

½ tsp. salt

1 can chopped artichoke hearts

¼ cup Parmesan

2 Tbsp. mayonnaise

Juice of a lemon

Pepper to taste

2 oz. cream cheese cut into ½” pieces – leave the cheese chilled to do this, and it’s still a mess. Comes as close to ½” as you can and don’t worry about it. It will melt in during cooking.

4 slices sourdough

Just a bit of olive oil

6 slices provolone

            Toast the bread and brush one side with olive oil. Set aside.

Bring a little water, maybe ¼ cup, to boil in a large skillet. Add salt, and working in small bunches, wilt the spinach. Drain, cool, and  squeeze out all the liquid you can. Then chop the spinach. (You could probably use one package frozen chopped spinach at this point but be sure to drain it well.)

Press water out of artichokes and chop if necessary. Mix spinach and artichokes and then blend in Parmesan, mayonnaise, lemon juice, pepper. Gently stir in cream cheese, taking care not to break up small bits. Add more salt if needed.

Put toast slices on foil-or parchment-lined pan with sides. Pile spinach/artichoke mixture on, spreading to the edges of the toast. Otherwise those edges will burn. Top each toast with provolone, again covering the entire mixture.

Broil until cheese melts and browns in spots. It can get too brown before you know it, so watch carefully. I split this recipe and did it in my toaster oven in two batches.  Worked fine. Let slices cool just a bit before serving.

In both recipes, if you like a tang of hotness,  you can add dried red pepper to taste. I’m not a fan of spicy.

An apology…and my family’s favorite casserole

Last week on “Judy’s Stew” I blogged about fixing Doris’ casserole, a family favorite, for a houseguest and promised the recipe on Thursday’s “Gourmet on a Hot Plate” blog. Trouble is, I never did the blog. We were busy entertaining our guest, and when I blogged, I forgot all about the casserole and blogged about the day’s events. Mea culpa. So here it is: ta-da, the recipe for Doris’ Casserole.

For those who didn’t read last week’s blog, here’s the back story. This was served to me at a dinner party nearly fifty years go by a woman named Doris. She called it Mrs. America Beef Casserole. Our husbands were training together as residents, and after residency I didn’t see much of Doris. Once when I did mention how much my family likes the dish, she barely remembered the casserole or the dinner party. I gave the recipe to a friend who insisted the noodle layer should come first. I assured her it shouldn’t. Another friend calls it American lasagna.

This is supposed to feed six, but it disappears quickly, so I sometimes make a double batch. It freezes beautifully. A bit of trouble to make, so I think of it as making two separate dishes—the meat layer, followed by the noodle layer.

Doris Casserole

Meat layer:

1 lb. ground beef

1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 8 oz. can tomato sauce

2 cloves garlic, crushed in garlic press

2 tsp each sugar and salt (I cut back to one tsp. on those, but sugar is important in tomato-based sauces—my mom taught me years ago it sort of rounds it off.)

Pepper to taste

Brown ground beef in skillet. Drain grease and return to skillet. Add tomatoes and tomato sauce, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper. Simmer 20 minutes, until it thickens a little.

Spread in a 9 x 13 pan.

Noodle layer:

5 oz. egg noodles  (approximately—they don’t come in this size pkg.)

3 oz. pkg. cream cheese (here again, you have to fudge; cream cheese doesn’t come in 3 oz. pkg. anymore, and I use half an 8 oz. package)

1 c. sour cream

6 green onions chopped, with some of the tops included

Topping:

1-1/2 c. grated cheddar

Cook egg noodles and drain. While the noodles are hot, stir in cream cheese, sour cream, and green onions. Spread evenly over meat mixture. Top with grated cheddar, bake 35 minutes at 350 or until bubbly and cheese is slightly browned.

Breakfast casserole

 

The Alter clan—or most of them—had a grand morning today. We slept later than usual, and then Colin made his usual run to Starbucks—now that’s an addiction I don’t understand, but they don’t want to make coffee at home, and I’ve stopped buying it for them. I had decided to make a breakfast casserole. With twelve of us for breakfast which would be our only “big” meal at home, days ago I started hunting through my cookbook that holds breakfast dishes—several egg and sausage casseroles, an enchilada casserole, a Velveeta cheesy bacon casserole discarded because I didn’t like the picture,  casseroles that only feed six or eight. I needed something that would feed all of us without doubling the recipe, and I remembered having this casserole at Janet and Dave Douglass’ house several years ago.

It’s one of those that requires overnight refrigeration, so I had most of the parts ready last night and popped it in the fridge when we came home from Joe T. Garcia’s. I put it in a cold oven, even though it had been warming to room temperature for about forty-five minutes. I’m always afraid glass baking dishes, even Pyrex, will crack with a sudden change of heat.

At first I thought I’d fix waffles for the grandkids—ages 5-8—but I realized that would mean only seven eating a casserole meant for 12. Some of them ate heartily; some didn’t. Christian brought the remnants of a potato casserole he’d made for a business breakfast, and I made biscuits. A hearty, last-all-day breakfast.

And then they were all in a whirlwind of packing the cars and leaving. Tonight, Sophie and I are in a quiet, empty house. We’re both a little tired, and I think she’s sort of shell-shocked.

But here’s the recipe:

 

 

Sausage and Egg Casserole

 

Spread 8 slices fresh bread, cube, or croutons (about 3 cups) on bottom of greased 9x13 pan (I used garlic cheese croutons)

1-2 lbs. pork sausage (I used the full 2 lbs.), browned and drained

2 c. grated cheddar cheese (I do not like the pre-grated kind you can get in the grocery)

1 4-oz. can mushrooms stems and pieces, drained (optional and I omitted it because some of us are not mushroom eaters)

4 eggs beaten

¾ tsp. dry mustard

3 cups milk, divided

1 can cream of mushroom soup (you can get by with that even with non-mushroom eaters)

 Spread bottom of pan with bread cubes or croutons. Layer sausage, cheese and mushrooms. Beat eggs and add to 2-1/2 cups milk. Add dry mustard. Pour over the ingredients in the pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight. When you’re ready to bake it, combine the mushroom soup with the remaining half cup of milk and spread over the top.

Bake in a preheated overn at 300 degress for 1-1/2 hours. Serves 12.