5 Apr 2011

D is for Dips.


After yesterday's chocolate extravaganza, I thought I'd go for quick, delicious and healthy dip recipes today.

Dips make great party foods or last-minute miracles when you have impromptu visitors. They also add spice to an everyday meal.

I wanted to share 2 of my favourite quick dip recipes here. They're easy to make and require only ingredients that keep a while (in the pantry or fridge), or that you can grow yourself.


Greek yoghurt and green garlic dip 

Ingredients:
  • Greek yoghurt
  • fresh, green garlic, cleaned and chopped into small pieces
  • salt & pepper
  • splash of lime juice (optional)

Recipe:
  • Add the garlic (white and green parts) to the Greek yoghurt, add salt and pepper, stir the ingredients together.
  • If you can, let the dip sit in the fridge for a few hours to let the flavours blend.
  • Add a splash of lime juice.

Tips:
  • As a variation, add chopped onions, shallots or fresh herbs (chives, coriander, dill, thyme, etc.).
  • This is a great dip for raw vegetables (carrots, celery sticks, cucumber, etc.), nachos or potato wedges. It's nice to serve with fish fingers or calamari as well.


Feta cheese and sundried tomato dip

Ingredients:
  • feta cheese
  • sun-dried tomatoes (dry or in oil)
  • olive oil
  • pepper
  • chillies, fresh or dried (optional)

Recipe:
  • Mix the feta cheese and sun-dried tomatoes in a blender.
  • Drizzle in some good olive oil (or use the oil from the tomatoes) until you get the right texture (not too firm if you're using nachos or crisps). Use lemon or lime juice instead of oil if you'd rather not add more calories.
  • Add pepper (and chillies, if you want it spicy) to taste.

Tips:
  • Add chopped fresh basil for extra flavour, or a clove of garlic if you like.
  • As a variation, instead of sun-dried tomatoes, you can use roasted red peppers (type bell pepper) in olive oil. The sweetness of the red peppers goes really well with feta cheese.
  • This is a great dip to go with nachos or pitta bread.
  • You can also use it as a pasta sauce (like pesto) or as spread on ciabatta bread.

What are your favourite easy dips?
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18 comments:

  1. Salsa out of the jar......so many dips have a form of dairy in them and I have to avoid that.

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  2. @mybabyjohn in that case, here's a dairy-free one: sun-dried tomatoes, fresh basil, olive oil, pine nuts and (a tiny bit of) garlic, all blended.

    I love it with toasted bread, ciabatta, potato wedges and pasta.

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  3. D for delicious. That feta cheese dip sounds great. Well, they both do, actually, and I usually have Greek yogurt in the fridge.

    You're killing me with these food posts. I went out and bought an enormous bar of dark chocolate today. :)

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  4. Good thing I'll be writing about travelling tomorrow. :-)

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  5. I applaud the feta cheese is delicious.

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  6. I love dips. My favorites are salsa and French onion dip.

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  7. Hi KC .. I do like making dips - I haven't done many lately .. too much hiatus going on .. but I will buy hummous - the standby I guess .. but your feta and dried tomatoe sound delicious. Thanks for the thoughts .. cheers Hilary

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  8. Thanks for the comments! Feel free to share recipes as well, I'm always interested in new ones :-)

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  9. Great recipes! Feta cheese and sun dried tomatoes. Yum.

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  10. Oh man... this makes me want to run out to the store, buy everything, and eat it ALL.

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  11. I don't do much cooking anymore, but I'm sure I would love the dips. Yum.

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  12. What a yummy post! I'm definitely going to have to try that feta cheese dip.

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  13. Those are great, and simple. I may make them for tomorrow, since we're having unexpected houseguests. Here's my favorite hot dip:
    8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
    6 oz. Swiss cheese, grated
    1/3 cup mayonnaise
    3 chopped green onions
    1/2 cup sliced almonds
    nutmeg
    white pepper

    Mix all together and spread into a pie plate. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes until bubbly. Serve with crackers.

    Invite a lot of people or you'll end up eating all this yourself.

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  14. And of course for the Swiss cheese you can substitute any combination of cheeses: Emmentaler, Asiago, parmigianno, manchego.

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  15. Sounds like a great recipe for the winter. I'll have to try it.

    Thanks! :-)

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