New Year's Day Spinach Dip in a Bread Bowl

The holiday season isn't complete for me without hot spinach dip in a bread bowl. We always have it when we get together for our book club Christmas party, and then I try to find an excuse to make it again one more time, around New Years or so. It's great fresh out of the oven, and surprisingly good reheated the next day. 

There's a lot of variations, but almost all of them include spinach, of course, then some combination of mayonnaise, sour cream and soup mix. Either red onion or green onion can be used, and water chestnuts are optional, but give a really nice crunch as a contrast to the creamy spinach. I think other people probably put artichokes in, but I don't, if only because I can never remember to buy it. You generally want a cup each mayo and sour cream, and Knorr vegetable mix seems to have just the right amount of flavor.

Mix everything together in a container with a lid because you'll need to chill the mixture for several hours, or overnight. Cheese is optional, but I like a couple of good shakes of parmesan, probably amounting to 1/3 cup.

Meantime, prepare the bread bowl. You'll need a round sourdough loaf, with the top sliced off and the guts taken out. Most recipes then say to put it in a bread bowl and serve. I mean, you can, but it's so  much better to heat it up, and put the entire filled bowl in the oven to heat and crisp the bread. Because it's been chilled, I prefer to put the dip in a small saucepan to heat it through before putting it in the bowl, then popping the lid back on top and covering it in foil before putting it in a 350 F oven for about half an hour. 

Once it's out of the oven, cut up the lid and innards. Put the whole thing on a cutting board and keep it right by your elbow while you go about the rest of your day.



When you're done, just wrap the leftovers up securely in foil. You can reheat it in smaller wedges in a toaster oven, and it will be even better than you expect, because the dip will have had time to soak into the bread itself.

For bowl:
1 Sourdough round loaf, top sliced off and insides cut out

For dip:

1 package frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and cooled to room temperature 
1 c sour cream
1 c mayonnaise or Miracle whip if you like it better
1 packet Knorr's Vegetable soup mix
1/2 red onion, finely diced (or 1/4-1/2 c green onion)
1 8 oz can water chestnuts, chopped
1/4 c grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Mix all dip ingredients thoroughly and chill for several hours. This is needed to hydrate the veggies in the soup mix.

About 40 minutes before serving, preheat oven to 350 F. This is not written in stone. In fact, if you are cooking other things at 325-375 F or so, you can pop the wrapped, filled bowl in along with them.

Place cold dip in a small saucepan and heat over medium setting, stirring constantly. Don't let it scorch! When heated through, scoop into bread bowl. Place one sheet of foil under the bowl, and up around the sides. Put lid on, and another sheet of foil on top of the lid and down the sides. Place on centre rack in oven for about 30 minutes.

To serve, remove lid and cut into wedges. Cut interior bread into cubes or roughly tear into pieces. Serve with bread, crackers, or veggies.