Monday, July 23, 2012

Let's go for a dip!

I love a good spinach artichoke dip, but having the same-old, same-old gets to be a bit...old.  I saw this on Martha this morning and will give it a try at my next gathering for sure.


Kale, Sausage and Mushroom dip (hot)
Yields 6 cups

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for baking dish
Coarse salt
2 small bunches curly kale (about 1 pound), stemmed and torn
1/2 pound spicy Italian sausage, casings removed
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 ounces button or cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon sherry-wine vinegar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups finely grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cups finely grated Gruyere cheese
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Tortilla chips or toasted baguette slices, for serving

Preheat oven to 375 degrees; butter a 1 1/2-quart baking dish and set aside.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat; generously salt water and return to a boil. Add kale and cook until tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold running water to cool. Squeeze water from kale until completely dry. Finely chop; you should have about 2 1/2 cups chopped kale. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside.

Place sausage in a large skillet and cook, stirring, until brown; drain fat from skillet and transfer sausage to a bowl with kale.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter and oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring, until lightly brown and tender, about 5 minutes. Add vinegar to deglaze and transfer mushrooms to bowl with kale and sausage.

In a medium saucepan, melt remaining 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add flour and cook, whisking, until thick and bubbly, about 3 minutes. Whisk in milk and cream. Increase heat to medium-high; cook until mixture just begins to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, whisking often, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup Parmesan and 1 cup Gruyere; stir in lemon zest, 2 teaspoons salt, and pepper. Transfer cheese mixture to bowl with kale mixture and mix until fully combined.

Transfer kale mixture to prepared baking dish; top with remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan and Gruyere. Bake until heated through, about 25 minutes.

Preheat broiler. Transfer baking dish to broiler; broil until browned and bubbly, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve dip with tortilla chips or toasted baguette.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Cinnamon Ice Cream
This is really not a recipe, but I think one could easily do it anyway.  This was a pre-birthday treat last night following a fabulous dinner at a local restaurant.  It is elegant yet simple: homemade (with extra cream) vanilla ice cream made with a generous amount of cinnamon in it, then topped with fresh blackberries and sliced strawberries.  It was to die for!!   Obviously, homemade ice cream would work best, allowing you to evenly distribute the cinnamon.   But I liked it so well I might be temped to soften some store bought ice cream, stir in cinnamon, and then refreeze it.