Avocado & Artichoke Heart Dip
I swear 99% of my recipes or food ideas are borne out of complete necessity. Due to the snow it is apparently impossible for our water delivery to be made as usual, which means that soon we won’t have any. At all. No water for any purpose whatsoever. I’m not even going to tell you how long I’ve been trying to put off a shower. Yup, you heard. Since no water will also mean no food being made or dishes getting cleaned, I’m clearing out my fridge. Again. It’s like an Olympic spot around here. I shall freely admit that this dip was concocted as a result of that classic dilemma: “what on EARTH can I do with a leftover cup of….?!” In this case, of artichoke hearts. Inevitably the answer is either (a) throw it into soup or (b) puree the heck out of it and call it dip.
It’s a little hard to predict exact measurements on this one, since there is no universal avocado-size. And I don’t have a clue how thick you like your dip. (Wouldn’t it be awesome to be able to know EXACTLY how people like their food? Without ever having to ask? That’s so what I want if I ever get to choose a superhero power). Anyway. My tactic with this was to throw the artichoke hearts into my mini food processor first to break down any slightly stringy fibers, then to add the avocado and see what kind of consistency I got. The answer? Too thick! So at this point, I threw in my cilantro leaves, a good heft of lemon juice and a sneaky spoon of the leftover artichoke brine from the jar. That’s also why I didn’t use any extra salt. Then I pureed everything until smooth and devoured it.
Before heading to someone else’s house to shower.
- 1 cup artichoke hearts, drained / rinsed
- 2 small avocados
- 2 – 4 tablespoons of fresh cilantro, to taste
- Juice of half a lemon
- Optional: tablespoon or so of reserved brine from the artichokes
- Drain the artchoke hearts, reserving a few spoons of the brine for later.
- Chop the artichoke hearts roughly in a mini food processor, breaking up the stringy fibers.
- Add the avocado, cilantro and lemon juice. Puree until smooth.
- If the dip is too thick, add a little of the reserved brine to thin.
[...] / Posted on: February 11, 2013 meatified – I swear 99% of my recipes or food ideas are borne out of complete necessity. Due to the [...]
Do you use the pickled artichoke hearts that are ubiquitous in supermarkets or do you use frozen ones that I’ve heard tell about, but have yet to find? (but maybe if they are indeed out there, I’ll look HARDER)? This looks quite interesting, as it includes food items I love. (I appreciate the sticks of cuke in the background of the excellent photo, waiting to take this on as a dip…)
Oooh, I’ve never seen them frozen, either. I used a plain jar of quartered artichoke hearts in brine, they were not pickled although I would think those would be fine to use, too. I suspect that you might want to hold back on adding any of the pickled juice to the dip, unless you really like that flavor. I’m glad you asked so that I can amend the recipe to be a little clearer, thank you!
This looks delicious and would be great to keep the flavor the the guacamole but cut the fat content a bit. I would also consider adding a finely chopped red onion.
I find the frozen artichoke hearts in Trader Joe’s.
You are right, some added red onion does sound delicious, especially if you diced it and added it at the end for a little extra texture. I have only recently been able to go to a Trader Joe’s so now I have another reason to pop in there – thank you for letting me know!