Asaigo Artichoke Dip

One Sunday immediately following church, we were invited over to a friend’s house for lunch.  Most Sunday mornings, no matter what I try and eat or plan on, everyone is always starving right after church.  I ran into the nearest grocery store to pick something up to go with the meal and thought I would look for an appetizer of some kind to enjoy while lunch was on the grill.  I looked in the store-made dip section and found a container of ‘Asiago Artichoke Dip’.  That sounded delicious, but I was a little turned off by the price tag…it was almost $7 for about 12 oz. or so of dip.  Yikes!  But I decided to go for it and was glad I did.  

It was flavorful and satisfying.  And after reading the short list of ingredients on the label, I knew there had to be an easy way to make my own.  A short Google search lead me to a version that sounded similar to what I had grabbed from the store.  I made it for the gathering I told you about in last week’s post, the birthday girl also really liked the dip the first day we tried it and loved the homemade version.

Now there was a slight difference between the homemade and store bought, like most situations the homemade was better (!) a little more garlicky and had a stronger asaigo flavor.  Next time you need a quick appetizer or something different to spread on some bread, try this!  It would also be great spread on a sandwich.  

2 cups ASIAGO CHEESE, grated

1/2 cup MAYO

1/2 cup SOUR CREAM

1/2 teaspoon SALT

2 GARLIC CLOVES, finely minced

6 oz. jar MARINATED ARTICHOKE HEARTS, drained and chopped

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  Cover and refrigerate until serving.

We liked this best with italian bread.  Asiago cheese can be found in the specialty cheese section of the grocery store near the parmesan cheese.

This post is linked to Melt in Your Mouth Mondays, Ingredient Spotlight