Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Best Cheesy Beef Dip

I love cheese fondue and cheese dip from my favorite Mexican restaurant so I came up with this dip using a bit of both influences. I serve this at football parties because the men love it...and they have no idea that it has gouda and gruyere in it because if they did, they'd think it's weird and not try it! (again...bc they don't realize what they really like) I know there's many a men who love cheeses such as gouda and gruyere...but in my life...there's not many so I just keep most ingredients under wraps.
Avesta's Cheesy Beef Dip:
1/4 cup shredded Gouda (not smoked)
1/4 cup shredded Gruyere
3/4 cup shredded White Cheddar (use 1/4 for mixture and the rest to sprinkle on top of dip)
1/4 cup shredded Butterkase (if you can't find this you can substitute havarti or use more white cheddar, but try to find this cheese, it is so mild and kids love it, too)
4 oz Velveeta (this helps make the dip very smooth)
3/4 cup milk or half n half (I like to use half n half..I never said this was low-fat)
1 lb lean ground beef
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon black pepper
2-3 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive oil

In a non-stick pan, saute the garlic in the olive oil just until the garlic is soft. Add the ground beef, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and salt. Saute the beef and make sure to break apart the ground beef into small pieces. Once the beef is cooked, drain as much of the oil out as you can, if there's a little left in the pan, that's ok. Turn down the heat to low and add the velveeta, and mix until the cheese is melted.
Add the rest of the cheeses and mix into beef and velveeta mixture. Slowly add the half and half and mix until mixture is smooth. Taste to make sure you have enough flavor for your liking, you can add more salt and more cayenne pepper if you'd like. Pour mixture into a small baking dish and sprinkle the rest of the shredded white cheddar on top of mixture and broil for 2-4 minutes or until you have a nice golden melted cheese topping. Serve with crackers, tortilla chips or sliced french bread. I do not have a picture of the final product because as soon as I took it out of the oven, the boys dug in and it was gone in minutes!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Avesta!! I am finally leaving a comment on your blog. I've been reading every day since you started but I haven't ever posted. I love all the recipes. I really want to try to make the apple baklava. Zilla was wondering if you could post about the mediterranean nachos sometime? I love all the photos too. They are really beautiful and make me hungry.

avesta said...

Yes! I love comments...and I will work on the Med Nacho recipe...please try the apple baklava...you may just die it's so good! :)

Satisfying my Sweet Tooth said...

I am in love with your blog! I'm so glad you found mine so I could find yours. What beautiful food you make and it all looks so delicious too! I can't wait to try some of these recipes and keep coming back for more!

avesta said...

Thank you Becky. You've got a pretty cool site yourself!