Artichoke-Lemon Dip

My sister-in-law makes a killer artichoke dip that plays prominently into the night-before-Thanksgiving festivities each year. With Easter fast approaching, and a break-neck schedule that has kept me from inviting my family and JR’s family to our house for the holiday (Hi Family, if you’re reading this, yes, Easter is on at our house. Wanna say 1pm? Great, thanks for checking in.), I had nearly forgotten that it’s time to menu plan for the day.

With much gratitude to @bostonblond, who asked for an artichoke-spinach dip recipe a couple of weeks ago via Twitter (though, it should be noted, I didn’t exactly deliver 100% on the request – there’s no spinach in this here recipe. Not that it couldn’t be added in, of course.). Elizabeth’s (that’s @bostonblond’s proper name) request jostled me into remembering my holiday entertaining responsibilities. And, as I’m sure most food bloggers do, I love entertaining responsibilities. Come up with a menu, make those items, and serve 20 people a delicious meal? Sounds totally dreamy. So, among those responsibilities? Appetizers, for sure – though I’d also better spend a few minutes later this week planning the rest of the dishes if I want to maintain that anticipation-of-entertaining joy during the week leading up to Easter.

This being spring (speaking of joy), I wanted to do something slightly different than the classic cheesy artichoke dip of the late fall that my sister-in-law plies us with, and so, I went in a lemony direction. I can picture this as a stuffing for fish (lemon will do that, I suppose) as well as a dip, and think I may evolve this out into a savory cheesecake recipe as well. When the break-neck pace subsides, probably after Easter. So, for now, a dip it is.

Estimated cost for 1 batch of artichoke-lemon dip: $7.19. The artichokes were $2.69 for a can of Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value brand. The cream cheese was also the Whole Foods house brand, and that cost $1.29 (I also try to be on the lookout for the $1.00 per package sales and snag a few blocks of cream cheese then, but 29-cents more isn’t so bad). The sour cream cost $2.19 for 16 ounces, so that’s $1.10 for what we used. The Pecorino-Romano was around 2 ounces at $7.99/pound, so that’s around $1.00. The lemon cost 50-cents, the oregano would run you in the neighborhood of 12-cents (mine is dried from the garden – it’s almost used up, and the growing season is upon us again – love how that happens), and the crushed red pepper flakes are around 6-cents. The butter costs 18-cents, and the panko is also Whole Foods store brand, which costs $1.99 for 4 cups. One-half cup, therefore, costs 25-cents.

Dinner tonight: Whole Roasted Chicken with Sauteed Collard Greens and a Potato of Some Sort. Estimated cost for two: $6.06. The chicken cost $3.44, we’ll eat half of that (the remaining chicken parts will travel with us to work for lunch tomorrow), so that’s $1.72. The collard greens were $2.49 for the bunch (I really cannot wait until they’re growing in the garden again, they’re so prolific and inexpensive – the 6 seed starts I’ll buy later this spring will probably cost less than $2.49 and provide us collards all harvest season long), the oil to saute them will cost 36-cents. I’ll use one medium shallot for a cost of around 25-cents, and will likely add 6-cents in crushed red pepper flakes, and there’s a good chance I’ll add some garlic to the mix as well, for 10-cents or so. I suspect we’ll have some sort of potato side dish, I’m guessing boiled red potatoes to use up the remainder from our St. Patrick’s Day feasting supply, and those cost 99-cents a pound, so around a dollar for those. Plus 9-cents in butter to finish those bad boys off.