“I am at the moment writing a lengthy indictment against our century. When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an occasional cheese dip.”
John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces
We went to visit some old-slipper type friends not long ago. These are the sort of friends with whom you can pick up a conversation left off a year or so previously, almost seamlessly.
We arrived in time for a sparkling Pimms, served with a stunning dip – translucent flecked bright orange glaze with a creamy layer beneath. It was dangerously more-ish and looked as if many hours had been spent in the kitchen.
I asked how she’d done it (the man of the house limits his culinary activities to growing vegetables). And she told me it was a cinch – a tub of garlic and herb Philadelphia with a varnish of sweet chilli sauce et voilá!
Here is the recipe.
Recipe for cream cheese and sweet chilli dip
For four to six
Ingredients
- 170g/6 oz tub cream cheese with garlic and herbs
- 4 tbsp sweet chilli sauce (she used Blue Dragon)
- Robust crackers to scoop it up with – I used Seggiano Classic or you could use plain round white rice biscuits (not rice cakes, the little hard white discs)
Method
- Simply spread the cream cheese over the bottom of a wide-based bowl.
- And spoon over the sauce.
- Serve with the crackers.
This post is dedicated to Maria Brown.
