Letter from America: Spinach and Artichoke Dip

You can make all the Popeye jokes you like, but spinach is great isn't it? You can just stir it in to pasta, whizz it up into a smoothie, bulk out a salad, serve it wilted with garlic on the side of steak, whatever. Basically, it's your friend when there's not much in the fridge but you need to get your daily dose of green goodness. 

When we met a friend for cocktails and a bite to eat at The Chester in the Meatpacking District in NYC a few weeks ago (as an aside, somewhere I'd really recommend), she introduced us to a classic American way to enjoy spinach that neither Ben or I had ever heard of - Spinach and Artichoke Dip.

I had a bit of a Google, and I couldn't really find where this originated - guesses have ranged from the Mediterranean, to further towards the Middle East, to America itself. Who knows? Who cares!? I absolutely loved it, it was hot and cheesy, and served with a toasted baguette it was the perfect accompaniment to our cocktails. I knew I had to try and recreate it when I got home, but recreating it wasn't that easy; it appears every American with a blog has their own version of it. So I took inspiration from all of them, and went for my own little recipe. 

I'll be honest, it doesn't taste exactly like what we had when we were away, but it did taste pretty good! Ben, my Mum and I enjoyed it between us for lunch with some garlic bread, but it could easily be a sharing starter for an evening meal. 

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

280g Spinach

400g Artichoke Hearts (one tin, drained and chopped)

1 cup of Cheese (grated, I used cheddar, approx 100g)

1/2 cup of Sour Cream (approx 115g)

1/2 cup of Mayonnaise (approx 115g)

2 Cloves of Garlic (crushed)

Okay I know, it's mainly in cups, and that's a pain if you're in the UK, but it's what alllllll the recipes I looked at were in. I have a lovely set of cup measures, so I stuck with cups, but I have included approximate conversions to grams, but they come with a warning. Whenever I convert to grams from cups, it goes so wrong. I always get confused, and double something or half something. So my advice is to invest in some cheap cups. 

So. On with the instructions - it couldn't be easier!

1. Mix the mayo, sour cream, crushed garlic and 3/4 of the cheese together. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Stir into the spinach.

3. Squeeeeeeze as much of the liquid out of artichoke hearts as you can, then add them into the mix.

4. Pop into a large oven proof dish and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

5. Bake for thirty minutes in preheated oven, or until golden brown on top.

6. Serve with garlic bread, pitta, tortilla chips, whatever you fancy.

Week Thirty Four

Late again. Waiting for normality to return, but I think it's still going to be a few weeks. I move into my new flat on Friday, and as far as I'm aware it doesn't have internet yet, which isn't going to help me get back in to the swing of blogging regularly and reading blogs (I have 150+ unread on my bloglovin' feed!!). But soon, I'm sure. Soon I'll be back. I can't wait!

Monday - Ben and I built a robot. It was raining - what else do you do when it's raining?

Tuesday - A day out to Gibside

Wednesday - A day out to Speke Hall (getting the most out of our National Trust memberships this week!)

Thursday - Remember in January I told you about our little country escape? Well we escaped for another few days this week.

Friday - We walked part of the Monsal Trail, from Monsal Head to Bakewell.

Saturday - Beautiful flowers at Chatsworth 

Sunday - This is what I like to see on my plate at Sunday lunchtime!

Week Thirty Three

Good afternoon! This weeks post should probably be titled "What I Ate in Week Thirty Three", because I seem to have eaten EVERYTHING this week. Except the bee. I didn't eat the bee. I just thought he was cute. Next week expect lots of photos of fruit and veg, because I seriously need to detox! I hope you've had a lovely week. I'm very behind in my blog reading, so I'm looking forward to a good catch up soon.

Monday - Little fried new potatoes from Leaf in Liverpool city centre. Golden bites of deliciousness.

Tuesday - Amazing fish sharing platter with lightly fried squid, crab salad, prawn cocktail and mackerel pate at The Pheasant.

Wednesday - Yes. That is breaded chicken, with a doughnut, drizzled in BBQ sauce. THAT HAPPENED. I can't believe I forgot to take my camera on a trip to Yardbird, which opened in Liverpool in June, but rest assured I will return and thoroughly document the experience.

Thursday - Busy, buzzy bumble bee.

Friday - This piece of rocky road from The Great British Cupcakery in Newcastle was actually nearly the size of my head.

Saturday - Ben and I went for coffee with his Mum on Saturday morning, and her coffee was too pretty not to snap!

Sunday - Fresh, homemade ice cream as a Sunday afternoon treat from Wheelbirks.

Letter from America: Cookie Brownie Chunks

A little preemptive chat before we get to the real meat of the post. Whilst I was on holiday, I was trying to think of a few ways to perk up the food side of my blog. It's really why I started the blog, but I've been finding it difficult to focus on, for a variety of reasons. I'm hoping that by taking a series approach, I can plan in advance, and be a bit more reliable in providing recipes for you lovely lot. I can then also slot in stand alone recipes whenever it takes my fancy. Does this sound like a plan to you? I hope you're all nodding fervently right now, because that is the plan! So, onward with the post! 

My first recipe series is Letter from America, and will be full to bursting with recipes inspired by what I ate in the last three weeks (if you missed it, you can find out a bit more about my holiday here, here and here). We're looking at five recipes, and the first is Cookie Brownie Chunks, a thick layer of chocolate chip cookie topped by a thinner layer of brownie.

This isn't based on anything I at specifically, more on an observation I made. If Americans like something, and they think it'll go with something else they like, they'll bring it together in a glorious, if slightly bizarre mash up. Prawn tempura in a sushi roll. Oreo cream in the middle of a doughnut dipped in icing and Oreo crumbs. Chunks of brownie replacing the chocolate chips in cookies. 

This last one got me thinking about the combination of cookies and brownies - certainly not unheard of, very popular on pinterest, but not something I'd really considered previously. A bit of research indicated that tradition dictates a thin layer of cookie topped with a thick layer of brownie, or even brownie topped with raw cookie dough. But brownie is a much stronger flavour than cookie, much more overpowering. So I switched the two around, and using my go-to cookie and brownie recipe, produced these bad boys. And they really couldn't be easier!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

You can find the recipe I used right here, but I swapped the 150g of raisins for 150g smarties, because I was going for completely over the top indulgence and fun to look at. In hindsight, next time I'd go for extra chocolate, because the smarties didn't provide the pleasing pop of colour I was looking for, and so didn't really improve the bake.

When you've made up the cookie dough, just press it into the bottom of a greased and lined tin. the one I used was 8"x8" and about 2" deep. leave to chill in the fridge until you have made your brownie mix.

Brownies

200g Dark Chocolate (broken into pieces)

175g Unsalted Butter

300g Caster Sugar

25g Light Brown Sugar

130g Plain Flour

3 Eggs

Melt the chocolate and the butter together, then add the sugars. Fold in the flour, and finally add the eggs one at a time.

This is my go to brownie recipe, I talked about it in more depth over at Scot Bloggers a while ago. This is double the amount you'll need, so I would make all of it and then just make some normal brownies too. It's a win win situation really.

So, pour half the brownie mixture over the cookie dough, and then bake at Gas Mark 6, or 200°C. I wanted them fairly solid so I could slice them into chunks and take them places, so I baked them for 45 - 50 minutes. If you're serving it as a dessert with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream (I wholeheartedly recommend this) then bake for more like 35 minutes, so the brownie is still all melty in the middle.

Week Thirty Two

Back home, but not yet back to normality. Until I move back up to the not so Frozen North, there's no real routine, nowhere I really have to be, nothing I have to do. A great luxury I know, but a very strange feeling. It (or possibly jet lag) is making me lethargic, and doing anything at all seems to be an enormous effort.

Including writing this post.

Hopefully I'll be feeling a bit more inspired by the time my next post need writing, which is going to be the start of a recipe series called "Letter from America". But in the meantime, I didn't want to completely miss the boat with my usual photos, so take a nose, and let me know how you get inspired when you're just not quite feeling it.

Monday - An excellent little haul after a day shopping in Washington.

Tuesday - I may have resisted for three weeks, but in the airport I was left in a small enclosed space with Five Guys. You don't need to imagine what happened!

Wednesday - After 24+ hours travelling, my duvet was the most welcome sight in the world.

Thursday - ... I think my jet lag got to me. I went to the bank, I wandered around the shops down the town, but I have absolutely no photographic evidence of it. Eight months in on this project, it's only the second photo I've missed. Quite proud.

Friday - I spent my evening counting the small change in the penny jar, and I'm now £45 richer for my efforts! At this point, every little helps. 

Saturday - Slow roasted pork belly with peaches. Mouthwatering.

Sunday - Technically, this photo of Ben and my friend Anna was taken on Sunday. Just very, very early in the morning...

Week Thirty One

Before I begin, in my defence, it's still Sunday where I am! So I'm not reeeeally late... 

I can hardly believe three of my photo posts have consisted solely of holiday photos. I'm so lucky to have been able to take this trip though two countries, five States and six cities (wow!). I hope you've enjoyed the little glimpse into it I've given you as much as I've enjoyed sharing it. As I fly back on Tuesday evening, normal service will resume soon, with a few slightly more in depth holiday posts added in to the mix. I've got an exciting new recipe series coming your way, and a new city to call home and explore with you by my side. 

But until then, I leave you with seven photos for seven days.

Monday - On a wander through Chinatown I saw more dried food than I've ever seen in my life (even in actual China!) which made for some... interesting... smells and truly interesting viewing.

Tuesday - We stopped by the Robert Indiana "Love" sculpture in Philadelphia, although resisted the cheesy selfie opportunity. On reflection, I think we missed a trick.

Wednesday - I have eaten SO MUCH SUSHI on this trip. It's everywhere, so much more so than back at home. I'm completely hooked.

Thursday - Washington put on a beautiful display for our arrival.

Friday - A day spent walking in the footsteps of the great and glorious of American history.

Saturday - I was surprised to find one of my favourite Renoir works hanging out (haha) in the National Gallery of Art.

Sunday - Arlington National Cemetry was one of the strangest places I've ever visited. Although relatively busy with tourists, it was an oddly relaxing place to explore.