artichoke spread

A Hearty Artichoke Dish

Each time I dive into Mom’s cookbooks to select a recipe it usually winds up being a journey in time picking out the chosen one.

• With more than 125 recipes under my belt since 2011 it’s becoming difficult to remember which ones Joe and I have already made.
• With hundreds more recipes to choose from it can be hard to pick the next recipe.

This week I landed on a new strategy – to simply pick the next recipe in order from front to back in Mom’s index card holder or her recipe book. This makes choosing super simple.

As luck would have it the very first recipe chosen under this new form of culinary law and order was this amazing artichoke spread. This recipe quietly sat at the front of Mom’s appetizer section like a wallflower – probably because I had already made this artichoke dip … in the process this spread recipe had been passed over for more than 4 years.

Turns out this spread beats the pants off the dip recipe. Which just goes to show to never underestimate the power of a wallflower.

foodie tips ~

❤  Surely Parmesan Cheese isn’t the same thing as Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese, right!? What you find when you click this link may surprise you!

❤  Whatever you do please don’t use “shaker cheese” for this recipe. Go fresh. I used my hand grater and made a coarse shred that melted into perfection.

❤  Love artichokes? Click here to peruse other artichoke recipes here at Betty’s Cook Nook.

❤  This recipe inspired me to create a new category for connecting you to my favorite Betty’s Cook Nook dishes. Just click on “The Best Of The Best” category link at right!

i. ingredients

2 cans | artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
2 cups | mayonnaise
2 cups | parmesan cheese, grated
to taste | salt and pepper
7 shakes | tabasco brand pepper sauce
to taste | garlic powder
to serve | ritz brand crackers

ii. what to do

0. Preheat oven to 350°F. Whew, that was easy!

1. Drain the artichoke hearts and chop them up. Place the artichokes into a casserole dish. Add the mayo, cheese, salt, pepper, Tabasco sauce, and garlic powder and mix everything together.

2. Bake in your preheated oven for 30 minutes. My spread got warm and bubbly with a little bit of browned cheese on top. #yum!

3. Remove the warm spread from the oven and let it rest a few minutes. If you add more parmesan on top we won’t be surprised. That’s what we did!

Enjoy by topping on Ritz crackers, tortilla chips, Naan bread, tortilla roll-ups … the list is never-ending. It’s that good.

Best served warm. Leftovers refrigerate well and they did not last long!

~ Patrick

Betty’s Son
Founder and “Nostalgic Food Blogger” of Betty’s Cook Nook

Mom’s original recipe gifted to us from our next door neighbor Mary Stephenson. :)

Who is “Mary Stephenson”?

We Kikers lived at 2927 Trailend Drive and Mary was the Mother of the Stephenson family living next door to us.

Mary was a fabulous foodie friend of ours and you’ll see a few recipes from Mary’s kitchen here at Betty’s Cook Nook.

Our two families spent many shared dinners and laughs together so I was happy to find some of Mary’s recipes tucked in Mom’s cookbook since the Stephensons were a magnificent and memorable part of my wonder years.