Tasty Tuesday - Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Here at the Diaries of Eugene, we love sharing.  And by we, I mean the singularly solo person who writes this blog and posts adorable pictures on tumblr (shameless plug alert).  One of the things I really love sharing is recipes.  If I have something incredibly yummy, whether at a friend's house or at a restaurant, I immediately have to have the recipe and will probably go home that night and try to recreate it.  It's a compulsion that I just can't (and quite frankly don't want to) stop.

With that in mind, I'd like to share one of my favorite, and most requested, recipes.  It's the famous Spinach and Artichoke dip recipe.  It's a combination of a couple different recipes that I found online (allrecipes.com) and one that my aunt made.  While all the recipes I tried were good, there was always something missing or just slightly off from making them GREAT.  It took me two years to finally get the right combination of ingredients and voila!  Perfection has been achieved.

Eugene's Spinach & Artichoke Dip
10 oz pkg chopped frozen spinach, cooked and cooled
13 oz can artichoke hearts, roughly chopped
4 oz can diced green chiles
1/2 pint heavy cream
8 oz sour cream
1/2 cup asiago cheese
1/4 cup romano cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/3 cup mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Lightly coat 13x9 inch baking pan with a non-stick spray.
2. Cook the spinach as normal, let it cool.  Take small handfuls and squeeze out the extra water.
3. Roughly chop the artichokes, then add to the spinach.
4. Add in the chiles, heavy cream, sour cream, asiago, romano, and parmesan cheeses, then stir until thoroughly until well-combined.
5. Spread evenly into prepared pan, then sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top.
6. Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes.  Stir and serve immediately.

For me, it's all about presentation, which I why I'm a big fan of the bread boule.  Slice off the top, hollow out the boule, toast it and the top in the oven until just before crispy, then let it sit out so it hardens.  Not only does it make for easy clean-up, but when you bring out a boule into a roomful of hungry party people and remove the top top to reveal a delicious pile of awesomeness...I believe the "Glee" kids call it "Theatricality."  To put it simply, that's a big, giant win right there.

What's your favorite recipe?  Why?  How did you come to find it?

*I know it's not a great picture but the dip is usually gone before I can actually take a good photo of it.