Dipping into Dips

by Sheila Connolly

I hear there's a football game this weekend. (Since I live about thirty miles from Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, it would be hard not to know.)  For those of us watching on the East Coast, the Big Game falls at the dinner hour, and I'm pretty sure nobody in my house will be cooking.  Ordering a pizza, maybe.

So we need munchies.  Wendy started the trend yesterday, so I'll roll with it.  Not being a dip (not to be confused with dippy) person myself, I went back to my multi-generation trove of dip recipes—and I can't say I was impressed.  In my family, pre-dinner munchies were actually kind of healthy:  mostly olives, carrot and celery sticks, maybe some nuts, that kind of thing.  I dimly recall that there were cocktail parties, which must have meant hors d'oeuvres, but not so often at our house.  Then in her later years my mother and her second husband got really involved with bridge (like three times a week), and the bridge ladies started competing with food, and a whole new crop of recipes crept into my mother's file.

But still . . . some of these I don't want to make, or even eat.  For example:

--From my Swedish step-grandmother:  Cheese Balls (knead--she wrote "kneed"—together Bisquick, grated cheese and sausage, roll into balls, then bake.  I'm not convinced.

--From a friend of my mother's:  Liver Paté Ball (liverwurst, onion, mustard and horseradish, all rolled into a ball).  Ugh—I'm not a fan of liverwurst, much less large blobs of it.

--From my mother:  Caviar Mold (gelatin, lemon juice, onion, mayo, Tabasco, grated hard-boiled eggs, and lumpfish caviar, all squished into a mold).  Uh, no?

--From my sister:  Shrimp Dip.  Actually I might consider this one, maybe (canned baby shrimp, mayo, small-curd cottage cheese, horseradish, and a package of (dried) ranch salad dressing).

--From my mother again:  Smoked Salmon Paté.  Canned salmon, cream cheese, liquid smoke . . . say what?  Not in my pantry!

--Ditto:  Egg and Artichoke Dip.  Possible, but a bit close to Wendy's recipe.

--and finally, my mother's classic Spinach Dip!  Something I've eaten, and would eat again!

Spinach Dip

1 package frozen spinach, thawed and drained

1 cup sour cream

1 cup mayonnaise

1 onion, chopped

1 can water chestnuts, chopped

1 envelope vegetable soup mix (or onion soup mix)

Make sure the spinach is well drained (squeezing it helps). Mix all the ingredients in a blender or food processor until fairly smooth.  If you're using a food processor, it's easiest if you put in the onion and water chestnuts and chop them a bit before adding the rest.

Be sure to taste it to see if it needs a bit of seasoning, because you don't know how salty your soup mix might be.  Refrigerate until ready to serve (often served in a hollowed bread loaf), with crackers.

You can use fat-free sour cream and a lower-calorie version of mayonnaise, if you want to keep the fat and the calories down. Love the water chestnuts, though—gives it some texture.

If you really want those other recipes, let me know and I'll send them to you.

Go Patriots! (After all, they've got a Connolly playing!)

It's Super Sunday!

by Sheila Connolly

If you're into football, you know what today is. If you're not, just go on about your business and ignore those people shrieking at the television set.
It's Super Bowl Sunday. I almost went to a Super Bowl once, when it was held close to where I lived AND I had connections through which I could have gotten tickets. The thing of it was, I was seven and a half months pregnant, and I thought spending the day fighting crowds and jumping up and down in a football stadium was not a wise thing to do under the circumstances. As a result, I missed watching Joe Montana kick Dan Marino's butt live at Super Bowl XIX. Yay, Niners! I'm sure my daughter appreciates my thoughtfulness.

But cheering is hungry work, either at the field of battle or sitting in front of your television (and hey, you get a much better view watching on television). So I offer you two recipes for football-watching sustenance. The first is a recipe for Swedish meatballs, from my Swedish-born step-grandmother (it's complicated). Make them small (under an inch), hand people toothpicks or skewers, and you're good to go.

Grandmother Johnson's Meatballs

½ lb. ground pork

1 ½ pounds ground beef

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 Tblsp butter

1 cup moist (not dried) bread crumbs

1 egg yolk

½ cup water

½ cup milk

salt and pepper (you can also add herbs such as thyme or parsley if you like)

Sautée the onion in butter until soft but not brown.

Mix all the ingredients together, and form small meatballs (about a teaspoon each).

Bring a pot of water or broth to a boil. Drop the meatballs in, a few at a time. When they float to the top, remove and drain.

Sautée the parboiled meatballs in a combination of butter and oil until brown. Serve warm, with whatever dipping sauce you like (barbecue, horseradish, etc.). These may be made ahead and sautéed immediately before the game (just don't miss kick-off–or any of those expensive commercials!).

And now for something completely different...Nacho Layer Cake (courtesy of my mother's bridge club in West Chester, Pennsylvania)

1 can (16 oz.) refried beans

1 package (8 oz.) Philadelphia cream cheese at room temperature

1 container (8 oz.) sour cream

1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chiles

2 fresh ripe tomatoes, finely chopped

4 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, coarsely grated

4-5 scallions, chopped

Taco seasoning

Use cooking spray to grease an 8" or 9" spring form pan with a flat bottom.

Spread the refried beans over the bottom of the pan, and sprinkle some taco seasoning on top.

Combine the cream cheese and sour cream, and spread over the layer of beans.

Drain the chiles and scatter over the cream cheese layer, then sprinkle the chopped tomatoes, the grated cheese, and the green onions.

Chill for 1-2 hours, then remove the sides of the pan (and admire the lovely layers–it'll get messy fast, but it looks nice at the beginning). Serve with sturdy corn chips to dig in.

Don't be afraid to experiment–you can add a meat or guacamole layer if you like. Just don't make the mix too goopy, or it will collapse in a messy but tasty puddle when you take the mold off.

See? Another recipe you can do ahead so you can sit down and enjoy the game.

Go, um...whoever is the better team (since neither one is the Patriots).