Gringo Dip

For a long time I've been wanting to try my hand at making my own Gringo Dip (normally found at a favorite restaurant, 54th Street). After perusing various recipes, I finally chose the route I would take and made my own attempts. Since I was thinking like a blogger, I actually wrote down amounts as I added them!

First let me say that I didn't use a double boiler. I don't own one. I simply melted my cheese dip with a low temp and lots of patience on the stove. As long as you stir frequently and keep those temps low (my dial was on 4), then you should be OK.

 

Recipe:

4 oz pepper jack cheese, cubed

4 oz monterey jack cheese, cubed

4 oz Velveeta, cubed

1 cup half and half

3/4 cup pico de gallo

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tbsp parmesan cheese, grated

2 1/2 oz frozen chopped spinach

I put everything in the pot but the spinach and stirred until it was all smoothly melted. Then I added in the spinach and cooked until the spinach was all thawed and mixed in. It makes about 4 cups of cheese dip. We ate half the pot and I filled a 2-cup tupperware with leftovers.

How this compares to other recipes:
I used plain old yellow Velveeta so my cheese is more yellow than the original. You could buy the white Velveeta, but I just used what I had on hand. Also, I used way less spinach than other recipes call for. I don't care for spinach and simple tolerate it in recipes like this. Even still, Sig agreed that any more would have made for a spinach dip instead of a queso dip. This recipe is also much smaller in size than the other copy-cats I've seen.

What I will do different next time:
Sig likes his dips more spicy so I will probably add more pepper jack and take away some monty jack. You can always add more cayenne too (which is the type of heat I prefer). I initially thought I should use less half and half but my teacher brain kicked in to remind me that cheese sauces thicken upon standing. The consistency turned out perfect!

How much it cost:
Like me, you probably have the Velveeta, cayenne, and parmesan on hand. I bought fresh pico from the deli section for $3, monty jack and pepper jack cost me another $4, half and half was $2 and the spinach $1.50. The remaining pico will be used in recipes later this week, the remaining cheese will keep, and I'll make sure to use the half and half before it expires. I measured my spinach still frozen, so that remaining will keep in the freezer too. All in all it probably comes about $6 worth of ingredients.

And because we're piglets, the only photo I have to share is the one of the leftovers. This will probably be my very unhealthy lunch tomorrow!

*Please ignore my dirty stone- we had stuffed peppers for dinner with the dip. I promise it was cleaned appropriately!