Smoked Artichoke Dip w/QVue

[rivet]

Since I had the smoker going, my wife and I decided to have a taste comparison of my Hot Artichoke Dip- Baked or Smoked? Have never smoked it before so the competition was on!

Here's the goods-



Softened the cream cheese, mixed in all the shreds, the mayo and a couple shots of the cayenne sauce. Cut up the vegs and in they go too. Added about 1/2 cup Parmesan that I forgot to put in the beginning picture. Gotta have it.-



Next up were the drained artichoke hearts-



Also in was about 1 TSP coarse ground black pepper. Mix the hearts in gently, then spoon out into foil pans like this-



Two pans went into the oven at the usual 325 F until brown and bubbly-



The third pan went into the smoker burning hickory. Since this was the first time at smoking the dip, it just went into the smoker at what I was smoking at, 225 F. Here it is after 2 hours, almost ready!-



Once done, it was ready to taste with "Aztecs", my name for home-baked corn tortilla chips. They are nice and sturdy~just the ticket for this dip-



Here's the smoked one served up for the taste-off!-



The verdict? Smoked dip is excellent! I liked this one better, my wife preferred the baked one. Overall it came out a tie. No worries, they are both very, very good. The smoked one had a faint kiss of hickory all through it, but the browned top part had more hickory to it obviously. The baked one is pure cheesy-artichoke goodness.....

Thanks for looking!

 

[cajunsmoke13]

wow, looks awesome. Love that stuff

 

[mballi3011]

Thats sound, looks more than yummie. Thanks for the recipe we will diffinally try it. We love artichokes.

 

[slanted88]

You live where? Ah Hell....Mo....Grew up in Knob Noster. Thought I could sneak a pan fer me & Louie! Man that is nice!

 

[forluvofsmoke]

That's some good lookin' dip there, Rivet. Chips look pretty good, too. Low salt version of restaraunt-style, I'm guessing. Nice!

Eric

 

[creative rock]

Looks good Rivet, will have to try it. We make artichoke dip often, so will have to let the TBS kiss it the next batch.
Thanks for sharing,
Matt
aka Rocky

 

[rivet]

hey thanks for the nice words. I make what I call "aztecs" which are a much sturdier chip that's great for thick, rich, homemade "MAN-DIPS" as opposed to the wimpy girly dips at the grocery store. Store chips bust-up as soon as you try to get a good gob on the chip...what good is that?

Aztecs are my answer~ Take regular corn tortillas, quarter them and lay them singly on a cookie sheet and bake at 410 F for about 8 minutes or until as brown as you like. They are awesome and a manly-chip, sturdy enough to tackle the heaviest load.

If you want to add flavor, before baking, squirt lime juice over them and sprinkle regular table salt. Wowee....gives them a nice burst of flavor.

Good smokes to you!

 

[jcats322]

Wow, just wow, that looks fantastic!

 

[waysideranch]

Send some of that via Pony Express over here to Kansas.

 

[two much smoke]

Looks awesome. Can you post the actual recipe so we can cut it back. Or double it or what ever.

 

[tasunkawitko]

another work of art comes out of your kitchen! beautiful!

 

[rivet]

Thanks, and sure can! Here it is...

(***WARNING*** Do not use lo-fat or no-fat mayo or cream cheese. It separates into an oily mess. I've tried this and had to throw it out cause not only did it not taste good it looked awful. Food's gotta look pretty too!)

4 PKGS Cream Cheese, softened
4 cups, 16 oz shredded Mozzarella
4 cups, 16 oz shredded Asiago. You can substitute "Italian Blend" cheese but it isn't as good
3/4 Cup grated Parmesan
1 cup Mayo
2 TBSP cayenne pepper sauce or tabasco
1 TSP pepper
1/2 TSP salt
6 Spring Onions chopped, green and all
3/4 Red Bell Pepper finely chopped
4 cans Quartered Artichoke Hearts, drained. Reserve 1/4 cup of juice.

Go down the list above (or follow pic sequence of my post) and add all ingredients one by one. The cream cheese is hard to blend, so I start out using a potato masher, then changing to a wooden spoon.

Use a bit of the reserved artichoke liquid to help blend the ingredients. Use as much as you need, but remember this has to be THICK when you put it into the pans, so use as little extra juice as possible.

PLace into loaf pans and bake at 325 till brown and bubbling well. Serve hot out of the oven.

It is also great as a leftover cold dip, the next day. Usually there isn't much leftover!

Enjoy!

 

[cajunsmoke13]

Thanks for the recipe. Copied that one and I will try it this weekend...

 

[lvrgsp]

Oh the creamy artichoke dip!!!!!...Love your version of it, will definately have to try that. How long will your chips stay good doing them youself?
Lovely q-view my man.

Chip

 

[rivet]

If you put them in a ziploc bag once they have cooled down they'll last two weeks. When I make them, I go for broke and make a standard 4LB bag of corn tortillas (the tall stack). After we eat, we end up with 4-One Gallon bags of loosely filled aztecs. I've had the remainders near two weeks later and they are fine and crispy. Of course the last bag hasn't been opened till the end.

I depends on how much and often you open the bag, and how high the humidity is where you live. Somewhere like Florida I would guess the shelf life is shorter.

Hope this helps!

 

[erain]

that looks great dude!!! i love artichoke dips and i think you just put that on my to do list! nice pix and thanks for sharing the recipie too. great job!!!

 

[two much smoke]

Thanks looking forward to trying it.

 

[fire it up]

Man that looks great Rivet.
I absolutely love artichoke dip though I always add spinach.
Would have never even occurred to me to smoke up a batch as opposed to the oven but man, that just looked absolutely delicious.
Guess I know of one thing I'll be doing on my next smoke.

 

[two much smoke]

Do not make this dip. We cut the recipe in half and thought that we had enough to last a year. Put it out on the table and had to bring out the second dish in very short order.

The reason I say do not make it is that everyone ate so much dip they had trouble eating the ribs and chicken that I made.

My wife even commented that she could make a meal out of the dip.

This was totally fantastic. Loved it.

How long does it last in the fridge? Can you freeze it?

 

[rivet]

Thanks for the post, bud

Glad you liked it and you got it right, that's the response we get everytime we make it...boom, it's gone!

My wife and I often do make a meal out of it. We'll get some crusty french bread, or she'll bake some, open a bottle of wine and with a pan of the dip that's the meal. Real nice that way, and great way to hang around and enjoy an afternoon together.

The leftovers have never lasted more than a few days in the fridge, cause it is awesome cold. I even spread it on my roast beef sandwich. As far as freezing it goes, never tried that. My instinct tells me you can, but the freezing-crystallization of the cream cheese might make it runny when you thaw it. Just a guess, tho.