Spinach and Artichoke Dip on bread. Dip in bowl. Dip da dip dip dippity do

Ohhhh my goodness. I am finally done with the season of Girls on GIRLS. Although we will be rolling out cocktail-making segments soon.
And in between doing a bunch of live shows that ran the gamut from improv to sketch to contortion for comedy, I decided to pull out some of the posts I had had in my drafts for a while. This is one of them. A recipe I’ve enjoyed enough to make more than once. That’s a big compliment from me because having to vet new cookbooks leaves little time for old favorites. The genius work of Joy the Baker keeps me coming back.

Here’s the deal:
I LOVE a sandwich. I cannot dislike anything involving ample carbohydrates.

Here’s the other deal with a sandwich though:
I only love it if I can eat it on a plate with a knife and fork so I can deconstruct and reconstruct as I like. Here, a bite of the whole sandwich, there, a forkful of filling. Then a leftover bit of bread from where I swiped the filling. That I may butter.

The third and final deal with a sandwich is that I rarely actually eat things that are supposed to be served on carbs ON the said carbs. I devour bowls of spicy salsa with a spoon pretty much daily. It is not so different from gazpacho right? Then I butter the chips.
And I rarely eat the cheese on cheese plates atop the slices of baguette that come with it. I nibble each bit of fromage individually. The better to really taste the cheese, my dear. Then I butter the baguette.

So I made this dip and enjoyed deconstructing a sandwich made with it, and still had leftover dip to gobble from a bowl. And at some point I ran out of bread but I always keep back-up butter.

Take home lesson from this blog post is this: ALWAYS HAVE BACKUP BUTTER.

Spicy Spinach and Artichoke Dip/Spread adapted from this recipe by Joy the Baker
Olive oil spray
1/2 tsp. chopped garlic
A few handfuls if baby spinach
2 pieces of whole wheat bread
1 Tbsp. cream cheese
2 oz. Swiss cheese, shredded
3/4 c. Chopped artichoke hearts
Pinch of fleur de sel
1 heaping Tbsp. Cottage cheese, mashed with a fork until relatively smooth
1 1/2 tsp. Sriracha
Butter
Spray a pan with the oil and sauté the garlic a bit then add the spinach, an cook just until wilted. Take off heat. Spread the bread slices with the cream cheese. Stir together the spinach mixture, Swiss cheese, artichoke hearts, fleur de sel, cottage cheese, and Sriracha. Heap as much as you want on top of cream cheese on one piece of bread, (save the rest for another sandwich, or if you are like me, eating out of a bowl) and top with other slice of bread, cream cheese side down. Spread outside of sandwich with butter and cook Ina skillet on each side until browned to your liking. Because it is all about you.

Molded greens unmolded

Because I thought you deserved a pretty picture for once.

It is tasty too.

That really is all I have to say for myself. I think every original thought in my head is being nabbed by my weekly improv shows. And it’s the season of being up to my gills in scripts, shoots, rehearsals, classes, auditions blahbittyblahblahblah. Good thing I am not trying to make any Möby-us Pie this week.

So enjoy the cute picture. Betty done good.
Molded Greens adapted from the Betty Crocker New Picture Cookbook

1/2 10 oz. package of frozen spinach
Handful of baby spinach
1/2 tsp. minced shallot
Pinch nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
Hard-boiled egg, sliced
Lemon slices
Put spinaches, onion and shallot in a bowl and microwave until hot, stir all together and squeeze out extra water. Mix in spices then pack into a ramekin. Can be prepared up to this point and put in the fridge! Before serving bake in a 300 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes. Unmold and garnish with egg and lemon. Adorbs! Ick, don’t say adorbs.

Supervegan!

Well, not really. I am vegetarian. But I enjoy my certified organic cage-free eggs and organic happy cow milk products. Anything non-dead makes it in my mouth. Except maybe coconut. I hate coconut. Or live animals, for that matter. They may not be dead but that wouldn’t make eating them right so I guess non-dead is not the correct term. Can ya tell I’ve been drinking champagne with a girl friend?
Anyway I made this ages ago and debated posting it since its beyond not pretty. Vegan creamed spinach, one of the variations on creamed onions in Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. The original recipe used light or heavy cream and butter. The vegan version used oil, all-purpose flour, and almond or hazelnut milk. I used smart balance(for that buttery taste sans animal product), whole wheat flour, and almond milk. And baby spinach plus some salt n’ pepa. Yummy-ness! I love almond milk, and the whole-wheat flour added a nice nutty flavor too. But it was sort of ugly:

But delicious. I might try it with some other greens sometime…

Time and Thyme again

I managed to cook from this February’s Bon Appetit, while on the phone and multi-tasking AND remembered to add the thyme called for in the recipe. BOO-YAH! and the Sunnyside Up Eggs with Mustard Creamed Spinach and Crispy Crumbs were fantabulous.
I used olive oil spray instead of straight up oil(cause I hate even a remote sensation of grease on my lips), dried thyme instead of fresh, and baby spinach instead of regular. And halved the recipe since my significant other was not around for me to prepare this as a romantic dish for two, the way Bon Appetit suggests. He was missing out though, this was way yummy. And cute.

Back to the Bittman Book

Oh Mark, I did not mean to neglect you. I am sorry for the affairs with Bon Appetit, and I know that cooking around with Hungry Girl was truly crossing the line. And I cannot promise it will not happen in the future. I confess in being poly, I need the content from cookbooks, magazines and blogs to be truly satisfied in the kitchen.
But you will be my main cookbook man.
And I gave you the benefit of the doubt, trying a dish with yogurt in it. I don’t normally care for yogurt so surely this gesture shows how much our relationship has come to mean to me.
I tried the baked version of your spinach with fresh cheese an yogurt. I used the mozzerella option instead of fresh cheese. I did not have garam masala so I made my own mix of spices: heavy on the coriander and cumin, accented with cinnamon, cloves, turmeric and freshly ground black pepper. And instead of a quarter cup of oil I used 1 1/2 Tablespoons of Smart Balance to toast the whole wheat flour in. This roux, mixed with the yogurt, cheese, spices, and blanched and shocked baby spinach was warming and delish.I promise not to forsake you for so long again, dear How to Cook Everything Vegetarian cookbook!