Adventures In Cinema Cuisine
I believe I spoke in a previous blog post about a lovely cinema I used to frequent, often for midnight showings of new movies. Among the amenities of this now-defunct theater was an in-house restaurant, which meant you could order off their menu from inside the auditoriums. In addition to the delicious Seven Layer Bars which I couldn’t get enough of, my other favorite of theirs was a spinach artichoke dip, served either with chips or with grilled flatbread. Forget the chips…I ordered a double portion of bread every time, called it dinner, and went to town.
The dip is served piping hot from the oven, and is creamy and a little cheesy, full of chopped artichoke hearts and spinach. I could pretend it was healthy because it was full of vegetables. But let’s get real…the amount of fat in this dish almost certainly offsets the health benefits of the veggies, especially if, like me, you chose to eat the whole thing by yourself in one sitting. With a bunch of bread. But since I didn’t do this every day, or every week, I figured that the occasional indulgence wouldn’t kill me. And it hasn’t. Yet.
At any rate, once I could no longer order this from the theatre and eat it in the dark while watching Anakin turn to the dark side, I tried to get it elsewhere. There are a number of restaurants (none of whose names spring to mind, unfortunately) where you can get something that either has the same name or else seems similar from the description. But, they were only similar. I never found that amazing melty goodness anywhere else.
So, naturally, I turned to the interwebs. And after quite a lot of what I like to call research (but someone else might call time-wasting browsing), I found enough information to start some experimentation of my own. And I’ve finally got it right. It’s not exactly like the old theatre dish, but it’s closer than I’ve found anywhere else, and it certainly does satisfy my craving.
So, the method, followed by the recipe: Soften your cream cheese before you do anything else. Remove as much water as you can from your thawed spinach; I like to do this by cutting a small corner off the bag, and then squeezing the spinach until most of the water runs out the little hole. You might lose a couple spinach leaves down the drain, but this is quick, easy, and effective. Then, I like to use a stand mixer (you can do this by hand but you’ll get better results with a mixer) to beat together the cream cheese, mayo, and sour cream. Once that mixture is smooth, add all the other ingredients, except for 1/4 cup of the grated Parmesan. Pour this mixture into a greased 8x8” baking dish, and then top with the last of the Parmesan. Bake until the mixture is bubbly. Serve warm with crackers, chips, flatbread…your choice. I wouldn’t judge you if you just ate it with a spoon.
This dish is amazing and I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like it. If you wanted to serve it for a party, you could prepare it right up to the point where it’s ready to go in the oven, and then cover it and store it in the fridge until you’re ready to bake it for your guests. Also, if you have some left over, cover it tightly, and store it in the fridge. You could reheat it in the microwave, but I prefer to reheat it covered in the oven (or toaster oven) at 350° until it’s bubbly again. Yum!
I hope you’ll give this a try. Enjoy!
Spinach Artichoke Dip
INGREDIENTS
14 oz can artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped
1/2 Cup sour cream
1/2 Cup mayonnaise
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/4 Cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic minced or 1 Tbsp jarred minced garlic
1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350°.
To a mixing bowl add sour cream, mayo, cream cheese, drained spinach, artichoke hearts, garlic, and 1 cup of parmesan cheese. Combine until smooth. Place in a greased 8x8” baking dish. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese on top.
Bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Serve warm with crackers or bread.
