THIS DIP! Goodness gracious, this is a fantastic appetizer. I'll be making this over and over for a lot of gatherings! Have I told yall about my aversion to olives for most of my life? Well, I was not an olive girl, until I had castelvetrano olives. They were my gateway. They don't taste like any other olive that I had ever had. They have such a beautiful and buttery flavor. And the lemon zest...don't skip. This is my favorite microplane. I have a few different ones, but I reach for this one the most! The lemon zest is subtle but compliments and adds so much to the dish.
Baked Artichoke & Olive Whipped Feta
Ingredients:
1/2 block softened cream cheese
1/2 of a 14 oz can artichoke hearts
6 oz container of feta crumbles
5 oz jar of pitted Castelvetrano Olives
lemon zest
olive oil
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees . Add the cream cheese and feta to a food processor and blend together until smooth. Strain the artichoke hearts, add half the can to a bowl with the cream cheese/feta and mix together until incorporated. Pour in a small skillet or a small 8-9 inch baking dish. Bake for 12-15 minutes. While it is baking, strain and chop up the olives.
Once it is baked, top with chopped olives, zest from a whole lemon, and drizzle with olive oil.
We ate this with fresh milled French bread, made from my pizza dough recipe, which is almost ready to share, and crackers. It is so delicious. I made this for my bookclub and everyone sat around this dip and bread, made all the "MMM!" noises with every bite. It made me really happy, lol!
Let me know if you make it!
-Michal