Guilty Pleasures – Creamy Spinach Dip

Life needs its indulgences – that’s the motto ticking continuously through my head (like stock prices streaming at the bottom of Bloomberg) when I make this recipe.  It is  indulgent both in taste, and in the minimal effort it requires (the faster to get to the end result!).  I recently made this for a group of friends and was asked to provide the recipe, which I am almost ashamed to reveal – it’s so simple I can barely justify it as “cooking”.  Hence, with a guilty conscience, I reveal my act of “non-cooking”.

*Note:  It’s best to make this around 3 hours ahead of time so the flavours can develop together in the fridge

What you’ll need (serves 4-6):

• a whole jar of sour cream (or 235g)
• 1 1/2 cup spinach (I use frozen chopped spinach from Waitrose)
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise 
• 2/3 tbls onion or leek (dried) soup mix 
• handful of chopped water chestnuts (optional)

Defrost the spinach, squeeze out excessive water – you will find the volume of spinach decrease by quite a bit.  

Mix spinach, mayonnaise, sour cream and onion soup mix together.  Taste test it – if you prefer saltier, just add more onion mix.  You can also add chopped water chestnuts.

Let that all just sit together in the fridge for a few hours.  Serve with toasted crostini (click here for my parmesan crostini recipe).

Bon Appetit!