Hot Parmesan Artichoke Dip

Lets just start this off by saying.. I used to have a food blog.  ME.  It was MINE!  It occurs to me that this whole thing has recently turned into the "Lily Cooking Show."  If this keeps up, I may have to consider changing the name!  My daughter has pretty much taken over the kitchen.  She doesn't think anybody should be in here cooking without her.  And then she wants to do the whole thing.  I should remind you that she is 3 years old!!  Just this afternoon we were making cupcakes and her older brother wanted to crack the eggs (a job she firmly believes is her sole domain).   Anyway, he got a couple of shells in the mixing bowl and she pretty much let him have it about how he wasn't doing things right, and how he needed to move over and just get down she could do it.  It was pretty comical. 

This hot, creamy dip has been a huge hit every time we have made it.  It's extremely simple (you can watch my 3 year old doing it), easily transportable, and satisfies a wide variety of palates.

Click for Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Parmigiano Reggiano
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 package cream cheese
• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 2   lg large cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 ½ tsp white pepper
• 1 Tbsp fresh dill
• 1 ½ tsp garlic powder
• 1 can Reese artichoke hearts, chopped small
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt 
• 1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
• 1 large round bread to make the bread bowl - either sourdough or Hawaiian

Step-by-Step:

You may see more steps than necessary... but Heaven forbid I don't show you all the steps that she did.  She checks the posts and wants to talk about them afterwards.  It really gives her a lot of pleasure to see herself making these dishes.. and I hope to instill a love of the kitchen in her so that she will cook for her family one day.


Prepare the filling -

The cheese should be “pulverized” in the food processor until its like powder.  This happens to be the fun part of the recipe.  Who doesn't love turning a big hunk of something into a fine, whirring powder in the food processor?  That’s the main key to this dish.  It can then be mixed with the other ingredients.  And for God's sake, please use a good quality Parmigiano Reggiano!  Do not use anything that comes in a can, or anything that is pre-shredded. 

remove the packaging

cut into small'ish pieces and throw them in the food processor

Make sure it's closed up tight, then turn it on.

Fingers in the ears!  Haha!!

I told her we wanted to let it go until it looked like "sand" at the beach.

 

Add the cheese into a bowl.  This ingredient needs to be the best you can find.  Remember - great meals start with great ingredients.  This is one I don't skimp on.

1 cup of Parmigiano reggiano

Add the sour cream.  

We’ve prepared this recipe with lower fat versions of sour cream, cream cheese and mayonnaise.  The low fat versions do work well and you won’t miss the fat at all.  It does NOT, however, work well with the fat free versions.  

1 cup sour cream.

Add the cream cheese.

1 8oz package of cream cheese

 Add the mayonnaise.

1/2 cup mayo

Mince and add in the garlic.

2 large cloves of garlic, chopped fine

Drain and chop the artichokes.

• Tip - use the artichoke hearts packed in water, NOT the marinated ones.  Those have a totally different flavor.
• We’ve also used ½ artichoke hearts and ½ hearts of palm (also packed in water).  The chopped hearts of palm work really well as well.  The final product just has a bit of a different texture, but is delicious.

1 can artichoke hearts.

Chop the artichokes fairly fine.

Add the artichokes to the cheese mixture.

Add the white pepper.

1 ½ tsp white pepper

Add the garlic powder.

1 ½ tsp garlic powder

Chop the fresh dill.

1 + Tbsp fresh dill

Add the dill into the cheese mixture.

 

 Add the kosher salt.

1/4 tsp kosher salt (or to taste)

 Add the cracked black pepper.

1/4 tsp cracked black pepper (or to taste)

 Give it all a nice stir.

Prepare your bread bowl.
Remove the "top" with a bread knife.

Hollow out the bread, leaving a border around the sides and bottom.  Maybe about an inch.  

Bake the dip - 
Spread the dip into an oven safe dish. 

Bake for 30 - 35 minutes at 350 degrees F until all hot and bubbly and slightly brown on the edges.  

The kitchen smells SO wonderful!

Assembly:
Spoon the dip into the hollowed out bread.

 Garnish with a little extra dill...

Now...
Here we have a fork in the road.  You can either serve now, or put it back in the oven and let the whole thing get hot and bubbly just prior to serving (maybe about 15 minutes).  

On this particular night, I am sending this dip with my husband to a work party.  I went ahead and garnished with the extra dill sprigs because I wanted to show him how I wanted it presented.  We'll see how he does.  HaHa!!

If you happen to be making this ahead of time like me, here are the "directions" for your honey!
"Please remove the dill before baking.  Bake for about 15 minutes at 350 until it gets all brown and bubbly.  Then replace the dill sprigs "artfully" and make it look like this. Put the wheat thins all around it and make it look pretty."

Also, I added just a tiny bit of red pepper flakes on the top - just to make it look a little more lively.

I hope it is a hit at his work party.  - but I've never known this to NOT be a huge hit!

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Looking for more fabulous ideas?  Please visit my Recipe Index for tons of things to cook with/for your family!  Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Prosciutto and Phyllo Wrapped Asparagus Appetizers

Dill and Sun Dried Tomato Cucumber Rolls

Cream Cheese Stuffed Pear Dumplings

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

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Written Directions 

So... I sort of wish there was more to this and I could say it was complex or something.  But really, all you do is chop everything, mix together, and bake.  That's the sum total of the difficulty.  As a matter of fact, Lily took over the making of this dish today.  The cheese should be “pulverized” in the food processor until its like powder.  This happens to be the fun part of the recipe.  Who doesn't love turning a big hunk of something into a fine, whirring powder in the food processor?  That’s the main key to this dish.  It can then be mixed with the other ingredients.  And for God's sake, please use a good quality Parmigiano Reggiano!  Do not use anything that comes in a can, or anything that is pre-shredded. Add the cheese into a bowl.  This ingredient needs to be the best you can find.  Remember - great meals start with great ingredients.  This is one I don't skimp on. Add the sour cream, mayonaise, cream cheese, and minced garlic.
Drain and chop the artichokes.

• Tip - use the artichoke hearts packed in water, NOT the marinated ones.  Those have a totally different flavor.
• We’ve also used ½ artichoke hearts and ½ hearts of palm (also packed in water).  The chopped hearts of palm work really well as well.  The final product just has a bit of a different texture, but is delicious.

Add the artichokes, kosher salt, cracked black pepper, garlic powder and fresh dill into the mixture and give it a good stir.

P.S. The report I got was that the dip was ravaged in 15 minutes and they needed more.  I'd say that's a good response.  :)

And just to let y'all know, he did send me a photo of his "arrangement" after he followed the instructions.