Dips enhance veggies for snacks, salad substitutes

Whether enhancing winter’s storage carrots or spring’s tender scallions, creamy, tasty dips pave the way for a quick salad substitute at a special luncheon or gathering.

Have your favorite dip made ahead to accent the platter(s) of your choices — allowing 2 cups per person. Options are manifold: Asparagus spears, artichokes, green beans, broccoli florets, carrot sticks, cauliflorets, celery sticks, cucumber sticks, fennel slices, edible-pod peas, green or red bell pepper strips, radishes, green onions, zucchini or crookneck sticks, cherry or grape tomatoes — even canned baby corncobs — rinsed and chilled — can all serve alone or together for a fabulous platter.

Have a container of pretty toothpicks for skewering small items like cherry tomatoes, provide everyone with their own small dipping bowl to fill from a main container and your salad course is taken care of. Let’s take a look at some dip possibilities.

Creamy Dill Dip

2/3 cup EACH sour cream and mayonnaise

2 tbs. minced parsley

2 1/2 tsps. EACH dill weed and minced sweet onion

1 tsp. seasoned or garlic salt

In a small bowl combine sour cream and mayo. Add parsley, dill, onion and salt and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for four hours or till next day. Serve cold. Makes about 1 1/3 cups, double recipe for more people.

Zippy Hot

Cheese Dip

1 ripe medium tomato, peeled, seeded, chopped

1/4 cup finely chopped green onions, including tops

3-4 Tbs. minced green chile

1/2 tsp. EACH salt and ground coriander

2 15.5-oz. jars prepared mild cheese spread OR 1 2-lb. Box pasteurized process cheese spread

In a small bowl combine tomato, onions, chiles, salt and coriander; set aside.

Place cheese in a 3-quart pan over medium-low heat until melted and smooth (if cheese is from a jar, simply heat through). Stir in tomato mixture. This is best served in a ceramic fondue pot w/candle flame, or a chafing dish over hot water. Makes five cups.

Blue Cheese and

Sour Cream Dip

1/2 pint 91 cup) sour cream

1/3 cup mayonnaise

3 Tbs. lemon juice

6 ounces blue, Stilton or Gorgonzola cheese

1 clove garlic, minced or pressed

1/2 tsp. salt

In a blender or food processor, combine all ingredients; whirl till smooth. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or till next day. Makes 2 cups.

Cucumber-Collage

Cheese Dip

1 large cucumber, peeled, cubed

2 envelopes instant onion soup

3 hard-cooked egg yolks

1/2 cup cottage cheese w/chives

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 Tb. prepared horseradish

1/2 medium-size avocado

1 tsp. lemon juice

Salt

Tabasco sauce for seasoning*

In a blender/processor, combine cucumber, soup mix, egg yolks, cottage cheese, mayo, and horseradish. Whirl till smooth. Peel and finely dice avocado and fold into cucumber mixture along with lemon juice and salt to taste. Return to processor till well combined. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours or overnight. Makes 2 cups. Have Tabasco at hand for seasoning at serving time.

* This is a vintage Sunset Cookbook recipe, and the Tabasco was a seasonal thing. Use it or not as you see fit.

Fab Artichoke* Dip

1 egg

1 1/2 tbs. EACH lemon juice and white wine vinegar

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 clove garlic, minced or pressed

6 anchovy fillets, coarsely chopped

1 tsp. grated lemon peel

1 cup olive or salad oil

3 tbs. chopped parsley

1 tb. capers, well drained

Place egg, lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, garlic, anchovies and lemon peel in a blender/processor container; whirl till blended. With motor on high, add oil a few drops at a time, increasing to a slow, steady drizzle as mixture begins to thicken (the slower the addition the thicker the sauce will be). Add parsley and capers, whirl till just blended in. Cover and refrigerate overnight or up to one week.

*This excellent dip also serves as filling for whole cooked artichokes. See below for how.

Cooked Artichokes

Boil artichokes in large container to cover until stem end is easily pierced with a sharp knife. Drain and immediately plunge into cold water; drain again and place on paper towels. Pull out small pale center leaves and scoop out the fuzzy choke; discard inner leaves and choke. Cover and refrigerate till well chilled. Spoon sauce into centers of cold artichokes, dipping leaf ends in sauce to eat. The above recipe will fill 6 medium artichokes.

Our illustration shows a pretty possibility for a dipping platter. The ‘how-to’ is for 24 appetizers.

Asparagus in Endive

24 asparagus spears

Snap off and discard tough ends of asparagus. Peel stalks part way up, if you wish, then cut from the bottom to the same length as the endive or romaine leaves; reserve remaining tender sections for other uses. In a deep frypan of boiling water, boil prepared asparagus spears for 7-10 minutes, piercing with a sharp fork for tenderness. When just tender, drain and plunge immediately into cold water till cool through, then place on a dishtowel and pat gently to drain and dry. Place a spear in each endive leaf, and arrange on a platter, decorating if you wish with grape tomatoes as shown or other small dippers such as broccoli florets.

On a side note, I’m including the recipe again for peppery cheese bread as the original recipe a few weeks ago had an incorrect amount for cracked pepper. The corrected recipe follows.

Peppery Cheese

Bread

1 2/3 cup flour

2 tsps. cane sugar

1 1/4 tsp. cracked pepper

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

2/3 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

2 large eggs

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/3 cup oil (veg. or olive)

2 small green onions thinly sliced with tops

2 tsps. spicy brown mustard

2 tsps. milk

Stir together first six ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in cheese; make a well in center of mixture. Whisk together eggs and remaining ingredients, add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Spoon batter evenly into 4 lightly greased mini loaf pans - 4 1/2x2 1/2-inch. Bake at 350F 22 to 23 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack 10 minutes, remove from pans and cool completely on wire rack.

Valle Novak writes the Country Chef and Weekend Gardener columns for the Daily Bee. She can be reached at bcdailybee@bonnercountydailybee.com. or by phone at 208-265-4688.