Cheesy Spinach & Bacon Stuffed Vienna

 

So this is the yummiest way to serve the Cheesy Spinach, Bacon & Onion Dip, in a large, golden toasted loaf, it doesn’t get any better than that! So this is a copy and paste of my favourite dip recipe with a few extra easy instructions to prepare it’s tasty vessel.

The centre o the loaf is pulled out and toasted and also the top of the loaf is used but I always find it’s not enough for the volume of the dip so I buy extra crackers or I make crostini to go with it also (you can buy crostini at the supermarket).

 

INGREDIENTS

LOAF
1 large Vienna or Cob loaf
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Serving size – This is a huge loaf, able to feed many! I usually make it if it is the only thing I am taking to a party or on special occasion like Christmas 🙂

 

Vegetarian*  Simply omit the bacon. I would also add another 250 grams of spinach and add 1/2 teaspoon of salt with the cracked pepper to the dip.

Note*  If I have to wilt spinach I prefer not to use baby spinach as there is not a lot of leaf and it ends up just a pile of little stalks so I use arrowhead as it has a large leaf.

 

WALKTHROUGH

Loaf

First preheat the oven to 160°C fan bake oven or 180°C conventional oven, on bake and place a rack below the centre of the oven so that the top of the loaf will be sitting around the centre.

Getting started, using a sharp bread knife slice off the top of the loaf.

Place it on a baking tray and using your fingers carefully remove the bread from the inside leaving a centremetre of bread all around the inside, whilst being careful not to break through the sides of the bread.

Break up the pieces of bread and slice up the top of the loaf into medium sized pieces and spread around the hollow loaf on the tray.

Next drizzle the olive oil all over the loaf and the pieces of bread and crack the black pepper all over.

Place the tray and bread into the oven and bake for 10 minutes or until lightly golden and place aside to cool down (best not in the fridge) and get cracking on making the dip (also the crostini if you are making them).

Dip

First place the cream cheese and the onion soup mix into a large bowl and leave it out on the bench so that the cream cheese can soften a bit.

Next place the streaky bacon under a medium grill and grill both sides until it’s just turning crispy. Roughly chop it up into small pieces and then add it to the cream cheese bowl (no need to mix it in yet).

*  If you are not using streaky bacon and it has rind, cook it until the rind is crispy and if it hasn’t crisped up nicely it might pay to pull the rind off as it is a bit chewy.

To prepare the spinach…..isn’t it beautiful…..

……pluck the leaves from the stems and give them a wee wash in a sink of clean, cold water. Then place them in a bowl and totally cover them with boiling water.

After 30 seconds remove them and place the leaves into a sieve or a colander and run cold water over them until they have cooled down and then with nice clean hands (as if….us bakers always have clean hands!) gently squeeze all of the water out until you have a nice little mound of moist spinach. Then place into a clean tea towel and……

…….gently squeeze out any remaining water.

Next thinly slice it up and add to the bowl with the cream cheese, bacon and onion soup mix (no need to mix it in yet).

Time to saute the onion and the garlic. So finely dice the onion and set it aside. Now peel the garlic and finely dice it, leaving it on your board for now.

Now place a small frying pan over a medium heat and add to it the cooking oil and the butter. When they start to bubble add the onion and stirring often, cook for three minutes or until the onion is soft, then add the garlic and cook for one more minute. When done add both to the cream cheese bowl.

Also adding in the grated cheese and the black cracked pepper (also the salt if you have omitted the bacon from the recipe).

Using a wooden spoon mix it all together.

Cover and keep in the fridge until ready to spoon into your loaf and serve (you will need 10 minutes to warm it before serving).

So when you are ready to serve it at home or just about to leave for your ‘get together’ place the loaf on a large platter and place whatever extra bready things you have chosen around the loaf.

Then over a low heat, in a heavy based frying pan or large saucepan gently warm the dip, stirring the whole time (around 5 minutes), remembering you are only warming it through not cooking it. Once warmed, put it into your loaf and serve immediately or cover with tin-foil to keep warm until you get to your destination 🙂

Storage – Once you have served the loaf, if there was some that hadn’t been eaten, I recommend discarding it because it’s been sitting out of the fridge.

Just looking for the spinach dip (out of the loaf), go here.

If you’ve never made crostini before, see how I do it here, they’re really basic, but scrummy!