Spinach-Artichoke Dip With Sweet Potato Mayo

I grew up in a small industrial town in West Bengal, India, where, in the 80's  Mayo was a fancy ingredient to cook with. in fact as far as i remember the Mayo bottles did not make their appearance in the featured cupboards of our grocery store till the mid 90's. but that never stopped my mom from trying out the dishes using Mayonnaise which she used to bookmark from her collection of cookbooks and magazines. she simply made her own fresh mayo every time she needed it. and that was the only mayo that i knew of  while i was growing up. her mayo with boiled potato, eggs, mustard sauce, sugar, salt, pepper and a FULL cup of oil. MMM...mmm it was delicious and made her dishes, specially her macaroni so special... so.. even when the commercial Mayo started flooding the local stores, at home we stuck to her  recipe. it was that good. and i am sure you'll do the same once you have tasted it..

anyhow when i started cooking, to cut down on the calorie count, i substituted a thing or two and made my own mayo recipe. which is, if i may say so, as delicious. substituting potatoes with sweet potatoes  helped me cut down on the added sugar a bit, replacing eggs with Greek yogurt changed the taste but made it an eggless mayo which i could serve to my MIL and i heavily cut down on the oil for i thought 1 FULL CUP was way too much.... so that is how the Spinach-Artichoke dip with Sweet Potato Mayo came into being... We had it in our sandwich along with cucumbers and olives and it tasted darn good. Even Mr MN who has a thing against Artichokes said it was good. and believe me he is not one of those who are loose with their compliments.  so a dish really has to be good to score points with him... and this one did :)

since this was my first experience of cooking with artichokes, i found this pictorial tutorial of how to prepare artichoke hearts useful. the rest of the recipe was a mere simple adaption from this one. now over to the recipe...

Recipe Adapted from here.

ingredients

1 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed

2 artichoke hearts, chopped

1/4 cup cream cheese

1 cup Parmesan Cheese

2 cloves of garlic, grated

homemade sweet potato mayonnaise

for the Sweet Potato Mayonnaise

1/2 cup boiled sweet potato

2 teaspoons mustard sauce

3 tablespoons Greek Yogurt

1/4 teaspoon of pepper

2 teaspoons of sugar

salt to taste

5 teaspoons olive  oil

what i did. 

• i preheated  the oven to 375 degrees F.
• then adding all the ingredients for the mayo, except olive oil, in the blender i pureed them. then  whipped the mixture while gradually adding the olive oil into it until it achieved a creamy consistency. that was my mayo.
• i then combined the mayo with the rest of the ingredients and put the mixture to bake for 20-30 minutes.

now that the dip was ready, i diced my olives and cucumber...

sandwiched them between slices of home-baked peasant bread spread with the spinach artichoke dip, toasted the sandwich in the sandwich maker...

and served and relished every bite of the sandwich with our bowl of Minestrone.....

Sometimes the simplest recipes strike the note with you... don't you think  :)

Happy Cooking and Bon Appetite !!

Sending the second photograph to Colour Me Black , a photography challenge series at The Humpty Dumpty Kitchen

and sharing the recipe with...

 Bon Vivant #13 - Kids Delight @ Sumee's Culinary Bites, Bake Fest #17 @ Cooks Joy hosted by A Homemaker's Diary, 

Saturday Dishes:  Saturday Dishes – All Things Easter @  Call Me PMC , The Tumbleweed Contessa , Hammock Tracks

Frugal:

Tuesday Frugal Tip @ Learning the Frugal Life

Wednesday Frugal Days Sustainable Ways @ Frugally Sustainable

Monday Food:
Meal Plan Monday Organizing Junkie
Menu Monday @ Erin Branscom
Menu Plan Linky @ Susie Q Melt in Your Mouth Monday @ Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms

On the Menu Monday @ Stone Gable
Manic Monday Linky Party @ Serendipity & Spice
The Bulletin Board @ Mrs Happy Homemaker
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Recipe Sharing Monday @ Jam Hands
Mealtime Monday @ Couponing & Cooking 

Clever Chicks Blog Hop @ The Chicken Chick
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Meatless Monday:

Meatless Monday @Veggie Mama's 

 Meatless Monday My Sweet and Savory
Just Another Meatless Monday @ Hey What's for Dinner Mom

Tuesday Food:
Hearth & Soul Blog Hop @ Premeditated Leftovers
Tempt my Tummy @Blessed with GraceTotally Tasty Tuesday @ Mandy's Recipe Box
Tasteful Tuesday Party @ Nap Time Creations 
Traditional Tuesdays @ Cooking Traditional Foods
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Show Me What You Got @ Our Delightful Home
Tasty Tuesday @ 33 Shades of Green
Tuesday Talent Show @ Chef in Training
Hand Made Tuesday @ Ladybug Blessings
Share it Link Party @ Winthrop Chronicles
Wednesday Food:
What's Cooking Wednesday @ Confessions of Overworked Mom
Wholesome Foods Wednesday @ This Chick Can Cook
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 Wednesday Whatsit @White Lights on Wednesday Fresh Foods Wednesdays @ Gastronomical Sovereignty
Show and Share @ Semi Homemade Mom
Wonderful Food Wednesdays at @ Home Take 2
Seasonal Celebration @ Natural Mother's Network
Wednesday Extravaganza @ Hunger Little Girl
Thursday Food:Link it Up Thursday @ Seven Alive
Creative Thursday @ Michelle's Tasty Creations
Fantastic Thursday @ Three Little Chiefs
Thriving on Thursdays @ Domesblissity
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Thursday's Treasures @ Chocolate, Chocolate & more
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Weekend Wonders @ The Thriftiness Miss
Friday Food Frenzy @ Mostly Food and Crafts 
Weekend Potluck @ Sunflower Supper Club

Savory Polenta...

A month back, polenta serendipitously made an entry into our list of favorites. It so happened that  one Sunday i picked up a packet of cornmeal from our Indian grocery store thinking that i needed it in a recipe whose list of ingredients i could faintly recall. as it turned out the recipe required cornflour and not cornmeal... so the new packet just sat on the counter for a while till i googled and found this basic recipe of polenta. i made it, we enjoyed it and there was demand for more. that made me i look into Alton Brown's recipe of Savory Polenta.. which i slightly modified  to make my own version of savory polenta.

my  Google search had also led me to this article from New York times that talks about the nutritional values of polenta. so all in all i think this one is a healthy flavorful dish that you might want to include in your meals every once in a while.  over the weekend i made it twice. on Friday we had it with a side of fried chicken and on Saturday we had it with veggies in chilly sauce, while Pradyot had it with a generous helping of butter and some lentil soup and we all enjoyed our meals heartily... 

now off to the recipe..

ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup finely chopped onions
• 2 cloves of garlic, grated
• 4 springs of fresh coriander, chopped
• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup split red lentil (masoor dal)
• 2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
• 1 cup coarse cornmeal
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• black pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

what i did

• i pressure cooked the lentil with the celery in 4 cups of water., strained out solid from the cooked dal and kept 3 cups of the lentil water aside.
• i preheated the oven to 350 degree F.
• next i heated the oil in my iron skillet, added the onions, half of the coriander and garlic into it and let it sweat till the onions became soft and translucent. i then added the milk into the skillet, stirred it in with the cooked onion and garlic and poured the whole mixture into the blender and made a smooth puree of it.
• now that all the basic materials were ready, i began heating the lentil water that i had kept aside along with the salt. once the water started boiling i reduced the heat, and started adding  in the cornmeal and the prepared milk-onion puree alternatively into the water, stirring the mixture constantly since the cornmeal tends to get lumpy otherwise. 
• once all the cornmeal and milk-onion puree was added, i switched off the heat, covered the skillet with a aluminium foil and transferred it to the oven to cook for 35-40 minutes. once the mixture turned creamy, i removed it from the oven, added the butter, pepper and Parmesan in it and served it on the table after garnishing with the remaining coriander and some more grated Parmesan.

Nishi likes an extra helping of butter on the polenta, so he usually cuts out small pieces of butter and melts it atop his slices of polenta in the microwave. of course that tastes good and you could try it too if you don't mind an extra helping of fat.

Happy Cooking and don't forget to fill me with your suggestions and comments if you stop by.. you are the reason i write and its always wonderful to hear from you.

Sharing this with these linky parties all over the place....

Healthy Food for Healthy Kids - Event & Giveaway for March - April 2013 announced at

Nithu's Kitchen and hosted by Nivedhanam

CWS-Cooking with Dals @ Priya's Versatile Recipes, Cook like a Celebrity Chef - 5 @ Food Corner, My Meatless Mondays @ My Sweet and Savory,  Marvelous Mondays @ This Gal Cooks, Recipe Sharing Monday @ Jam Hands, Mealtime Monday @ Couponing & Cooking and  Mop it up Monday @ I should be Mopping the Floor, Share it Link Party @ Winthrop Chronicles , Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays @ SS& GS,  Bon Vivant #13 - Kids Delight @ Sumee's Culinary Bites

Tuesday Frugal Tip @ Learning the Frugal Life, Wednesday Frugal Days Sustainable Ways @ Frugally Sustainable, Foodie Friday @Simple Living and Eating, how and Share @ Semi Homemade Mom, Hearth & Soul  Tuesday Blog Hop @ Premeditated Leftovers