When it comes to vegetables, spinach is my first love. When it comes to a delicious hot dip, nothing beats spinach/artichoke dip. Let’s turn that into a sandwich.
My hot spinach/artichoke melt puts the vegetables forward—1 can artichokes, drained, 1 package spinach—with minimal “dip” ingredients: only 2 tbsp mayonnaise, 2 tbsp cream cheese, a dash of cream, 1/2 cup shredded parmesan, the juice of half a lemon, 1 large clove of garlic (minced), and salt & pepper to taste.
My melts are inspired by this Bon Appetit recipe, with tweaks because I can somehow never follow a recipe.
In most recipes, including the Bon Appetit recipe, it calls for boiling the spinach then squeezing the moisture out. I humbly disagree with this treatment. Better to sautee the spinach in a large fry pan on medium-high heat with a drizzle of olive oil and 1 large clove of garlic, minced. That garlic will infuse the spinach and there will be very little moisture to worry about.
Once the spinach is cooked down (wilted but some life left in it), transfer to a cutting board and coarsely chop. Do the same with the can of drained artichokes (squeeze those artichokes to get the moisture out).
Get that into a large bowl and add: 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan, 2 tbsp mayo, 2 tbsp cream cheese, the juice of 1/2 a lemon, salt & pepper to taste. Mix with a spoon to incorporate all of the ingredients.
This can be made ahead and stored in the fridge until you’re ready to make your melts. I’m ready! You want a sturdy bread for your base—I’m using Blackbird Bakery seeded sourdough bread. Hardy and delicious. At this point you can toast the bread and then drizzle it with olive oil, broil the bread on both sides, or toast the bread in a fry pan with olive oil. I prefer this latter method because you can control the heat and hydrate the bread.
That bread is looking nice and toasty. I love how rustic it is. Ready for the toppings.
Heat the oven to 400 F. Take a baking sheet, line it with parchment paper, lay down the toast then top it with the spinach/artichoke mixture. Cover every inch.
Add cheese. In this case I’m using an equal mixture of cubed gouda and babybel cheese—you could use any mixture of melty cheese but I like the nutty texture of the gouda and the babyel as creaminess. They’re both great melting cheeses.
Top with a crack of pepper and into the oven that goes for about 20 minutes or until the cheese is melty. Broil that for about a minute to get a golden cheese crust—the best!
The bottoms of the bread are a delicious golden brown.
This makes for a great vegetarian brunch feature or you could slice it into smaller pieces for an excellent appetizer.
— Trish Hennessy
A Year in Sandwiches 