Spinach Dip - Spenatdip

SPINACH DIP
Spenatdip

Raw veggies are delicious to dip in a well-flavored sauce. Here I've mixed soured cream and crème fraîche with spinach and herbs. It looks nice if you put the bowl in a ring of crushed ice, and it keeps the sauce fresh and cool.

Serves 4 to 6

0.4 cup soured cream
0.4 cup crème fraîche
2 tablespoons grated onion
1 tablespoon chopped chives
1 teaspoon crumbled dried chervil
7 oz fresh spinach
or corresponding amount of frozen spinach
½ teaspoon salt
some grated nutmeg (I don't like it so I omit it)


Mix soured cream and crème fraîche gently. Add onion, chives and chervil and leave for a while. Trim and rinse fresh spinach and pre-cook in lightly salted water for a few minutes. Pour off the liquid, let cool and chop it. Frozen spinach just needs thawing. Stir the spinach into the soured cream mixture and flavor with salt and optional nutmeg.

Pour in a bowl and serve with different kinds of dippable goodies.

Enjoy!

Bella

Avocado Apple Dip - Avocado- och äppeldip

AVOCADO APPLE DIP
Avocado- och äppeldip

Avocado is the ideal ingredient in dips. Here's a not so stuffy, mighty version with apple, bell pepper and pine nuts, perfect for chips or shredded veggies while chatting amicably over the first drink of the party.

Serves 4

1 tart apple
½ lemon
1 ripe avocado
3 tablespoons crème fraîche
½ red bell pepper
salt, pepper
2 tablespoons pine nuts or sunflower seeds


Peel and core the apple and chop or finely dice it. Squeeze the lemon over the apples for great taste and to protect them from darkening. Split the avocado, remove the stone and peel it. Mash with a fork and mix with crème fraîche. Trim and finely chop the bell pepper. Mix the mashed avocado with apple, lemon juice and bell pepper and flavor to taste with salt and pepper.

Roast the pine nuts or sunflower seeds in a dry, hot frying pan for a minute or so, allow to cool and blend them into the sauce. Pour into a bowl and serve with different goodies like chips, shredded veggies like cucumber, celery, bell peppers and carrots, or you can serve it as a sauce with shellfish or chicken salad.

Instead of pine nuts or sunflower seeds, it works fine with finely chopped walnuts as well.

Enjoy!

Bella

Bean Almond Dip - Bön- och mandeldip

BEAN ALMOND DIP
Bön- och mandeldip

You can use this as a dip or spread it on bread. It's delicious any which way.

Serves 4

1 can white beans (without tomato sauce), approx 14 oz
1 to 2 garlic cloves
1 to 2 tablespoons oil, preferably olive oil
½ lemon
0.4 cup plain yogurt
1.7 oz skinned almonds
roasted flaked almonds for decoration


Put the beans in a mixer or food processor and mix them with garlic, oil, lemon juice and skinned almonds until you have a rough dip. Dilute with some lukewarm water if needed. 

Pour into a bowl, decorate with flaked almonds and serve with vegetables of your choice (or spread it on bread, or do both!).

Enjoy!

Bella

Warm crab dip - Varm krabbdip

WARM CRAB DIP
Varm krabbdip

A creamy dip sauce with crab meat is delicious for those who can eat it. You can dip both vegetables and biscuits and you’ll find it hard to quit …

1 batch

6 to 7 oz crab meat or crab sticks

7 oz Philadelphia cream cheese
1/3 cup white wine or chicken bouillon
1 teaspoon Maizena
1 cup grated cheese
2 tablespoons finely chopped dill
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
salt, pepper
paprika

Cut crab meat or crab sticks in pieces. Mix cream cheese, wine or bouillon and Maizena in a saucepan. Heat on low heat until the cheese has melted and the mixture has slightly thickened. Add crab meat, grated cheese, dill and Worcestershire sauce. Heat on medium heat until really hot and the grated cheese has melted. Flavour to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with a little paprika and serve with toast, crisps, celery stems, sugar peas, carrot sticks and cherry tomatoes.

You can serve this dip warm or cold, whichever you prefer.

Enjoy!

Bella

3 different fruit dips - 3 olika fruktdips

3 DIFFERENT FRUIT DIPS
3 olika fruktdips

Choose between three lovely crèmes to dip fruits and berries in. You can dip all kinds of fruits, so choose after the season and what you like. I will have to omit dipping the starfruit though, that I’m not allowed to eat.

4 to 6 servings

2 nectarines or peaches

2 pears
2 kiwi fruits
1 starfruit (carambola)
¼ melon
lemon juice

Raspberry dip

2/3 cup whipping cream

1 egg yolk
¼ cup sugar
½ tablespoon Maizena
1/3 cup raspberries
1 to 1½ teaspoons vanilla sugar

Lemon dip

1 egg

¼ cup sugar
zest and juice from ½ lemon
1 oz butter or margarine
¼ cup heavy cream

Caramel dip

¼ cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons treacle/molasses
1 oz butter or margarine
1 tablespoon cocoa

Start by rinsing and cleaning the fruit and remove pips if there are any. Cut in pieces. Squeeze the lemon juice over the pears so that they don’t get dark.

Raspberry dip:

Mix cream, egg yolk, sugar and Maizena in a saucepan, Simmer on low heat while beating until it thickens. Allow to cool. Add mashed raspberries and flavour with vanilla sugar.

Lemon dip:

Beat egg and sugar until fluffy. Add lemon zest and juice and simmer until thick in a saucepan while beating. Allow to cool, stir in the fat and let cool completely. Blend in whipped cream.

Caramel dip:

Boil cream, sugar, treacle and fat in a saucepan on medium heat while stirring for 3 minutes. Dissolve the cocoa in 1 tbsp water and stir this into the dip. Allow to cool.

Enjoy!

Bella

Home-made cheese dip - Hemmagjord ostdip

HOME-MADE CHEESE DIP
Hemmagjord ostdip

This cheese dip is ideal with snacks. It’s also delicious with crudités or brittle toast.

4 servings

1 garlic clove

½ bunch each of parsley, basil and chives
4 sprigs fresh marjoram
or 1 tablespoon dried marjoram
2 sprigs fresh oregano
or ¾ teaspoon dried oregano
3½ oz Kesella (or Greek or Russian plain yogurt)
3½ oz cottage cheese
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt
white pepper

Peel and finely chop the garlic. Rinse all fresh herbs. Pinch off the leaves from the basil, marjoram and oregano and finely chop it together with parsley and chives. Put Kesella (or substitute), cottage cheese and garlic in a large bowl and mix to a purée with a hand mixer or in a food processor. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper and process a little longer so that you get a smooth, creamy mixture. Then add the spices and stir by hand – do NOT mix!

Pour the dip in a glass bowl, cover with plastic foil and store cold for 1 hour. Decorate with chives and basil leaves just before serving with whichever stuff you like – vegetables, toast … you name it.

You can also mix finely cut or chopped raw vegetables like cucumber, carrots, celery and leek or spring onions into the dip.

Enjoy!

Bella

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Cream cheese dips - Dipsåser med färskost

CREAM CHEESE DIPS
Dipsåser med färskost

Quick and easy to make and lovely in taste – these dips are perfect for vegetables with a nice drink of some sort, or to spread on bread.

4 servings

1 red bell pepper

3 spring onions
3 ¼ cups Greek or Russian yogurt
4 tablespoons mineral water
fresh juice from 1½ lemons
salt, white pepper
½ teaspoon paprika
3 garlic cloves
½ cucumber
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 ¾ oz black, pitted olives
½ bunch parsley
pinch thyme
the very smallest pinch cayenne

Trim and rinse the bell pepper and the spring onions. Finely dice the bell pepper and shred the spring onions. Stir the cream cheese in a bowl until soft.

Mix 1/3 of the cheese with 2 tablespoons mineral water and the juice of ½ lemon. Stir in the bell pepper and spring onions and flavour to taste with salt, pepper and paprika.

Take another 1/3 of the cheese and blend in remaining mineral water and the juice of ½ lemon. Crush 2 garlic cloves and blend them in. Peel and pit the cucumber and coarsely grate it on a grater. Blend this in and flavour well with salt and pepper.

Blend remaining cream cheese with lemon juice and olive oil. Finely chop the olives. Rinse, trim and shake off most of the water from the parsley, finely chop it and mix with the olives. Crush the last garlic clove and blend it in, then flavour with salt, pepper, thyme and cayenne.

Enjoy!

Bella