Hot Cheese Dip for September Tapa's Night

A few years ago I met the following recipe and bowed down to it.   It had the most incredible taste, and was one of those recipes that made it hard to stop eating it.    Well, the lady who brought it was kinda cagy about the recipe but finally divulged it.  And I've kept it ever since, and served it from time to time and watched people go a little nuts over it as well.   And last Saturday night was no exception.  I think there was maybe a quarter cup of the dip left at the end of the night.  However, despite the fact that it tasted wonderful, I was a little dismayed at the amount of  'oil' that was on top of the dip.  I just wonder if it's because I used a really good swiss cheese and some mature cheddar cheese?  At any rate, while good, I would say it wasn't one of my best efforts.

Cheese Dip and baguettes

Eggplant Crostini with cheese dip in back.

  I also made a nice mushroom pate, which was very tasty, and extremely rich.    Here's the link to the recipe I used as a basis for mine.Bite my Cake.   I got the original recipe from the Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen site.

Saturday night was our monthly get together and as usual, people brought some fun stuff.  Everything from an incredible fruit salad, some wonderful smoked fish dips, a curry/apple dip, homemade pimento cheese, homemade hummus, some totally awesome eggplant crostini, buffalo wings, and a puff pastry roll with cheese and ham inside, and of course my hot cheese dip and mushroom pate.

Clockwise: Cantaloupe wedges with prosciutto, puff pastry roll and hot wings, french bread and Mushroom pate.

Fruit bowl in back, then the cantaloupe, pimento cheese, puff pastry and wings, bread, naan and mushroom pate. 

 We also had some habanero sauce on some cream cheese, the curry apple/chicken salad and crackers, hummus and some incredible smoked fish dips.  There was a crab dip, a grouper dip and my personal favorite, a mullet dip.   I just wish I hadn't filled up on some of the other stuff, I could have made a meal on the fish dips.   
I had made some sausages as well, but they ended up in the garbage, they'd been frozen, and tasted slightly 'off', so I chucked them.   (I did say I was going to tell you not only the good stuff, but also the bad, sigh.)

Next month is Halloween and I can't wait to make a few fun things, giggle.   I love Halloween, dressing up, making fun and funky foods, it's just one of my favorite holidays. 

I'm going to leave you with the recipe for the Hot Cheese Dip and the Mushroom Pate.

Hot Cheese Dip
1/2 cup grated swiss cheese
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup mayonnaise
1 onion, finely minced
Mix together and place in an oven safe container and bake at 325 deg. for about 55 minutes.   Serve with crackers, fresh baguettes or your carb of choice.

Mushroom Pate
1 lb. Fresh Mushrooms, roughly chopped or sliced
1 small onion, minced
1-2 cloves garlic
2-4 tbsp. olive oil for frying
1-2 tbsp. butter
1/4-1/2 cup white wine

Saute mushrooms in 1-2 tbsp. olive oil til the juice is released and they start to brown.  Remove from pan and add another 1-2 tbsp. olive oil to the pan, saute onion and garlic in  olive oil til translucent, but not browned.   Swirl in the white wine, and let cook for just a minute or so to reduce a little.  Then add the mushrooms back to the pan and turn off the heat.   Let cool for just a few minutes and place in a food processor, reserving a few slices of mushroom for garnishing later on.   Whirl it together until the whole mass has processed to a consistency you like.  Add the butter at the end and let it blend in.   Heap into a dish and place in the fridge or serve right away.  This tastes awesome warm, at room temperature or cold.  Do serve with a good bread, and enjoy.    (I also had the thought that this would be wonderful, smeared on the outside of a nice tenderloin, then wrapped in puff pastry for a  Beef Wellington, hmmmm.)

In the meantime, I'll be thinking of some fun Halloween nibbles.  Maybe some cheesy Witches Fingers, some Bloody Eyeballs, some Crow's feet, the possibilities are going to be endlessly fun and flavorful.