Melting Pot Green Goddess Dip with Vegetable Stir-fry

J. and I really enjoy going to the Melting Pot a fondue restaurant which is near us. All of the courses are served fondue style. There is a cheese appetizer, a hot oil dinner course where you cook your vegetables and meats in a flavorful hot oil and then a chocolate fondue dessert course. The dinner course is served with several dipping sauces and J's favorite is the Green Goddess, he asked me to try to recreate it at home. I think it's best served with mushroom caps so we served it with a vegetable stir-fry.

From Food.com


Ingredients:Green Goddess 
-8 ounces cream cheese, cut into slices
-1/4 cup milk
-1/4 cup sour cream
-2 tablespoons finely chopped onions
-2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
-2 tablespoons finely sliced chives

Stir-fry
-1 red bell pepper
-1 orange bell pepper
-Half a head of broccoli
-8 ox of button mushrooms
-Small can of water chestnuts

To make the Green Goddess, heat up the cream cheese and milk in a microwave safe bowl.
Whisk together.
Add all other ingredients and whisk until smooth and the herbs are incorporated. 

To make the stir-fry heat oil in a large skillet.
Add the broccoli, cook for three minutes.
Add the peppers, cook for three minutes.
Add the mushrooms and water chestnuts and cook until the mushrooms are browned. 

Serve with rice and the Green Goddess.

J. said that he wasn't sure if this was 100% what the Melting Pot recipe tastes like, but he said that it was really good and that if it wasn't spot on, then it was close. The only issue with the Green Goddess was how much it made, when I make this again I will cut the recipe in half. This was good with all of the vegetables, but it was best with stir-fry mushroom caps.

A Hamless Holiday -- Melting Pot's Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue

Happy Christmas Week!

Starting today and going through Tuesday the daily blog post will be "A Hamless Holiday" post. Those five blogs all together will form a holiday meal. Keep checking back daily to find out another course of the meal. The theme for the Christmas meal is red, green and white and these dishes all go fantastic together making a feast for your eyes and taste buds.

I did a similar blog series called "A Turkeyless Thanksgiving" during the five days leading up to Thanksgiving and it was a hit. Hopefully this series will be as well. You can find the Thanksgiving posts here: appetizer, main dish, drink, side dish, dessert.

Today's post is the appetizer and is a recipe from the blog Favorite Family Recipes and is a copy-cat recipe for the Melting Pot's Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue. If you have never been to the Melting Pot before find your nearest restaurant and go celebrate something! I will warn you it is a little pricey, but it is great for birthday's or anniversaries -- J and I celebrated our two year anniversary there this past September and we had such a great time.

A Hamless Holiday:
Appetizer: The Melting Pot's Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue

Ingredients:
-3 oz. vegetable broth
-1-2 oz. fresh spinach, chopped
-1-2 oz. artichoke hearts, chopped
-1 Tbsp. chopped garlic
-2 1/2 oz. Butterkäse cheese
-2 1/2 oz. Fontina cheese
-1 tsp. grated Parmesan cheese
-a small amount of flour
-dash Tabasco sauce

All of the fondue appetizers from the Melting Pot call for Butterkäse cheese which Becky had no problem finding at the grocery store....if you can't find it check out the original post for alternatives.

Heat the vegetable broth (ideally you do this in a fondue pot, I don't own one, I just did it on the stove top).

You want the broth to be hot, NOT BOILING!

Add the spinach, artichoke and garlic.

Combine both cheeses and lightly flour them.
I used a few tablespoons of flour for this. 

Slowly incorporate the cheese stirring in a figure-eight motion.
Once melted stir in the parmesean and hot sauce.

Then you'll have fondue!

We enjoyed the fondue with bread and apples.

Fondue time is always a great time.

This is a great appetizer for any party and is best served in a fondue pot, however, I'm sure that you could also keep it warm in a crockpot in order to make it more accessible than my pot which was heated by the stove. This tasted exactly like the fondue which is served at the Melting Pot. The green from the spinach is sure to tie in nicely with the other blogs this week.

Check back tomorrow!