Hot Artichoke Dip

Hot Artichoke Dip is a recipe appearing in The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl.

Official description
Mmmm. When you arrive, ravenous and cranky, at someone's house for dinner, there's nothing more satisfying than seeing a nice, inviting dish of hot artichoke dip. It really does a hungry - and cranky - body good.

I like to whip up a somewhat smooth base of mayonnaise, cream cheese, cayenne pepper, green onions, Parmesan, and artichokes, then go back and add larger chunks of artichoke at the end. This results in a hearty, textured, and more interesting dip. While some versions call for adding eggs to the mix, I find this interferes with the creamy quality and can sometimes result in a puffy souffle-type texture. Who needs that?

Recipe

 * Two 14-ounce cans artichoke hearts, drained
 * One 8-ounce block cream cheese
 * 1 cup real mayonnaise
 * Cayenne
 * 2 green onions, chopped
 * 1 cup grated Parmesan
 * Dash of salt
 * Freshly ground black pepper

To begin, preheat the oven to 350*F. Add one can of artichokes, the cream cheese, and the mayonnaise to the bowl of a food processor. (If you don't have a food processor, do smaller batches in the blender, or simply chop and stir together.)

Sprinkle in cayenne pepper to taste. I like my artichoke dip spicy, but consider the tongues of your guests. Add the green onions to the bowl as well.

Pulse the mixture 6 or 7 times. You don't want to liquefy it; just get the artichokes all chopped up and mixed in with the other ingredients. Mix in the Parmesan and salt and pepper to taste, and set aside.

Now, roughly chop the artichokes from the remaining can. Get them down to bite-seze pieces so Artie won't choke. [sic]

Add the artichoke pieces to the dip and stir together gently.

Pour the mixture into an oven-safe dish and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until heated through and bubbly. Serve with blue tortilla chips, crackers, or white button mushrooms. Or a spoon.