Artichoke Dip: A Mission for Yummy Goodness

Years ago when I lived in Minneapolis, my husband and I would go to this eclectic little restaurant and bar called the Loring Cafe (it unfortunately closed a while back). It was one of those bars where they had live music and comfy sofas and chairs to sit on - of course thinking back you probably wouldn’t want to see those comfy sofas and chairs during the day when their Goodwill-ishness would rear its ugly head. Things like that seem to take on a hip quality in the darkened, mood lighting and after a few drinks. But I digress...

The restaurant though was delicious. And the best thing on the menu in my opinion was the artichoke dip. Good artichoke dip is hard to find. Often it’s too creamy (too much mayo) or too oily. Or people throw in spinach. I like spinach but not in my artichoke dip.

So one time, we asked what was in the dip. The waitress was very cordial and started telling us the ingredients, but with the caveat that they make it in huge vats so the portions she knew wouldn’t make much sense if you wanted to make it at home. She obviously didn’t know how much I loved artichoke dip.

After that, my husband and I made it our mission to recreate the Loring Cafe artichoke dip. It took years, literally, of trial and error, but we finally perfected it. Now I feel that I owe it to the world to share what I feel is the best recipe for artichoke dip.

1/2 cup real mayo

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (Use the best quality you can. Sometimes the really inexpensive brands can get a bit oily.)

1 8-oz package of frozen artichokes, thawed and roughly chopped

Pinch of red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons diced green chiles

1 garlic clove, minced

Salt and pepper

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes. Don’t bake for much longer than that or the mayo starts to break down and get oily. Twenty five minutes has been deemed the optimal time. :^)

Do enjoy!