Tortilla Chips

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Before I say anything else - if this post looks really weird, I'm sorry - my mac is away getting cosmetic surgery (I might have dropped it) so I am relying on a linux machine which is all lovely and everything but my entire blog looks different on it and if this post looks about as bad on your machine as it looks on mine right now I'm apologising in advance - because it was not supposed to look like this!

If you grew up in the States and have moved to Europe or are from Europe and spent some time stateside you will have noticed tortilla chips over here come in very weird flavours and if you are lucky enough to find simple, plain, salted ones you will (after dying from shock when you find out how expensive they are) realise that they still taste weird. Ok, eating less of them is probably not a bad idea anyway but sometimes the only thing that will do is some tortilla chips and some good homemade guacamole. Luckily my friend Katie (who also makes a mean guac) showed me how to make your own tortilla chips and now I'm telling you so you can be as content as I was when we first made them.

Tortilla Chips (enough for 4-6 people)

8 Tortilla Wraps(I use the corn ones but wheat is quite nice as well)

1 Lime

Salt (optional)

Turn on the broiler in your oven (or preheat it to 220-250˚C if you don't have one).

Using scissors or a knife, cut the tortilla wraps into pieces. 

Arrange some of the pieces on a baking sheet - make sure they don't overlap, but don't worry if they're really close either.

Rub the top with some lime juice. I find the easiest way of doing this is cutting the lime in half as if you were to juice it and then cutting each half into quarters. The pieces you end up with are easier to handle than if you' attempt to rub half a lime across the tortilla pieces.

If you want your tortilla chips slightly salty I would sprinkle them with salt now because that way it will stick to them rather than just falling off later.

Put the baking sheet under the broiler and stand next to your oven waiting for the chips to become slightly browned and crispy. Do not walk away from your oven!!! They tend to not do anything for ages and then suddenly you look away for a second and they are somewhere between done and over-done.

Repeat with the remaining tortilla pieces.

I don't think you'll really need any suggestions as to what you could eat with them. But I normally make them when I take the baked artichoke dip to a party (because that one really doesn't do well with the flavoured chips) 

Baked Artichoke Dip

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I'm sorry I still haven't gotten better at the whole posting regularly thing, but I'm in the middle of organising my move (yes, I have found an apartment and yes, it's very pretty) while getting used to commuting for what seems like forever these days (that will change once I move) ok...an then I'm not really cooking or baking much these days. Perhaps I should just change this blog to 'what I had for lunch at the cafeteria today' but trust me, you'd want to look at the photos of that just as badly as I would want to take them. So bear with me for a few more weeks :)

That said, I went to a birthday party the other week and had to decide what to bring along. Funnily enough ABC Family made that decision for me - Kathryn on Switched at Birth was talking about her artichoke dip a few episodes ago and I spent the better part of a week waking up every morning thinking about artichoke dip. So when I had to decide what to bring for the party I couldn't really think of anything better.
I looked at a few recipes but the one I based mine on is Ree's Hot Olive & Artichoke Dip on Pioneer Woman for quantities.

I baked the dip at the party which is one of the best things about it - you can prepare it in advance (relatively, I wouldn't leave it sitting around at room temperature for too long) and bake it when you're ready or when you get to wherever you're going and then 25 minutes later you'll have to stop yourself from eating the entire thing alone.
I think the dip works the best with plain tortilla chips or pitta chips. The slightly burned ones to the left of the artichoke dip in the middle were the result of me not paying attention to the oven. I'll make some prettier ones this weekend and will post the recipe soon.

Baked Artichoke Dip
260g jar Artichoke Hearts (the kind in the 'herb sauce' that always seems to consist mostly of oil - I ended up with about 150g after draining them)
250g Cream Cheese
125ml Mayonnaise (my jar came in ml, no clue how many grams that was, but if you have cup measures, that is about 1/2 cup)
100g Parmesan, grated
1/2 Onion, finely diced
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
1 Egg
Salt, Pepper, Nutmeg, Chilli Flakes

If you are planning on baking the dip straight away, preheat your oven to 175˚C now (otherwise preheat whichever oven you're using before you plan to bake the dip).
Combine the cream cheese and mayonnaise and stir until you have a relatively smooth mixture, then add the parmesan and diced onion.
Puree the artichoke hearts and add the puree to the cream cheese mix. Season with the lemon juice, salt pepper, nutmeg, and if you want some heat some chilli flakes.
Once you're happy with the flavour, add the egg and stir until the egg is properly incorporated.
Spoon the mixture into a small baking dish and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Now work on the whole self-restraint thing and try not to eat all of the dip before the people around you have a chance to notice you have taken it out of the oven :)