While I am typically a sucker for most spinach-artichoke dips, I almost always have the feeling that they could use more flavors and less oil. When looking at recipes online, almost every one included copious amounts of mayonnaise and cream cheese. I felt the mayonnaise was what would make the dip taste oily and the cream cheese would take away from a real cheese flavor.

This version is free of mayonnaise and only uses real cheese. The result is an extra smooth texture with the nutty-essence of the cheese taking center stage. When I served it at a recent family dinner, I could not believe that even the pickiest of eaters were devouring this appetizer.

This makes a lot – so it’s perfect for a large party, or cut it in half for smaller events.

Ingredients:

1 sweet onion (chopped)
2 cans of artichoke hearts (in water – not oil!)
2-3 T chopped garlic (I love garlic, so I can add as much as a ¼ cup)
¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 cups ½ and ½
1 ½ cups grated Romano cheese (blend of Parmesan and Romano would be lovely, too!)
3 T lemon juice
2 T hot sauce (adjust to your liking)
2 tsp Old Bay (or a Louisiana-style spice)
1 box frozen chopped spinach

Directions:
Preparing the veggies:

• Chop finely a Vidalia or yellow onion.
• The spinach needs to be thawed and drained. You should squeeze any excess moisture out – seriously, squeeze and squeeze and squeeze it out. Chop it up a bit more so that it mixes in better.
• The artichoke hearts should be drained well and then chopped up, too!

It’s Cooking Time:

1)    Heat the oven to 450ºF.
2)    Melt about 2 T of butter in a large saucepan, and stir in the chopped onions. Cook until they become translucent and soft.
3)    Stir in the chopped artichoke hearts and as much garlic as you like. Cook for a few more minutes, and then place onto a separate dish for the time being.
4)    Melt another 2 T of butter in the saucepan, and then add the flour. Stir the butter and flour together until well blended. On a medium heat, slowly add in the ½ and ½, cheeses, lemon juice, hot sauce and spice. The sauce will begin to get thicker after a few minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.
5)    Add the spinach and the artichoke/onion mixture to the sauce.
6)    Place the mixture into a large baking dish, and bake for 15 minutes. The sauce should be slightly browned on top and the cheese should be bubbling around the edges.

TIP:
Serve this in a bread bowl for an extra appealing appetizer. I used a Rosemary and Olive Oil loaf of bread, which I hollowed out. I cut up the center chunk of bread into smaller bites and toasted the loaf and the pieces for a few minutes in the oven. When the dip came out of the oven, I scooped half of the mixture into the bread bowl.

Hearty whole-wheat crackers or tortilla chips work great. Veggies, such as celery and carrots, are great for dipping, too!