Using fresh spinach in your recipes will increase a little bit the preparation time, but the food will taste slightly better than if you used frozen or canned spinach. Fresh spinach can be cooked in many ways, but for making a dip, the best are steaming or microwaving.

This is a dip recipe based on fresh baby spinach and canned artichoke hearts:

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs fresh baby spinach leaves
• 1 can artichoke hearts, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 1 average onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon Worcester sauce
• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream (low-fat is also fine, if you’re concerned about your heart health)
• 1/4 cup flour Cayenne pepper and salt according to taste

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves: 6

Cooking procedure:

Wash the spinach very well, then steam it or microwave it for maximum 2 minutes. Dry it very well and chop it. In a skillet, put the olive oil, add the onion and the garlic, sauté for 2-3 minutes, then add the flour. Cook it for one more minute stirring continuously. Let it stand for a few minutes, then add the Worcester sauce, the sour cream, the cottage cheese, the spinach and the artichokes. Cook it on low temperature, stirring gently, until the cheese melts completely into the mix. This will take about 8-10 minutes or maybe less, so don’t leave the pan unattended. Add salt and pepper, pour everything in a bowl and serve the dip hot with toast bread or tortilla chips and with salsa.