Spinach and Feta Dip is a total crowd pleaser! Serve with easy rustic Homemade Lavosh Crackers and totally impress your friends. Jump to Recipe!
You can thank my lovely friends Sheena and Katrina for this scrummy dip. I bet they’re reading this now and thinking, what? This isn’t our recipe. What you talkin’ ‘boot Kate? (They’re Canadian you see, hence the ‘boot’. Translated that means ‘about’).
Well these two gorgeous friends, who I have known for a whooping 12 years now travelled half way across the world to come and visit me for my wedding in 2012. I can’t tell you how flattered and honoured I was to have them here (and all our other guests). After the wedding, instead of going on a honeymoon with my darling new husband, I went on one with them! Sounds terrible that I ditched my husband, but actually he was doing his MBA at the time so we planned to go away later in the year. I took the girls on a little trip around the North Island here in New Zealand. We visited lots of beaches and the occasional mud pool.
On this trip I found out how seriously healthy they are, or maybe I just found out how unhealthy I was (eek). A standard snack for me would usually be some cheese and crackers or maybe a muesli bar. Well these ladies showed me the world of snacking on vegetable crudités and dip. Seriously healthy ladies. Everyday we would chop up some veggies and find some healthy dip or hummus to dip them in. After a couple of days I was secretly hoping the ladies would crack out the chips to have with our dip, I was a new bride after all who had been watching her weight like all brides do, up to the wedding and was craving a bit of junk. Sadly no, we kept with the crudités. A funny thing happened though, I became addicted to them! Long after the ladies left I kept eating my raw veggies and dip snacks.
My favourite of all was this one spinach and feta dip we would buy. Well, I was determined to recreate it myself. It was full of spinach, so kinda healthy, but also full of a serious amount of cheese. That’s what I’m talkin’ ‘boot! Grab a food processor, throw in some wilted spinach, a big hunk of feta, some more cheese, a little sour cream and a few extras and blitz yourself to dip heaven!
Then take it to the next level and seriously impress your friends with homemade lavosh crackers. They look really difficult, I know, but there are really quite easy. I have a food blog and am obsessed with cooking but if anyone had suggested to me before now to make homemade crackers I would have said forget ‘boot it (see what I did there, I know, I’m not that funny am I?). This is a great recipe that makes crackers so easy to make. They are meant to be rustic (i.e. messy), the more rustic the better because we’re just breaking them up at the end before eating. I promise you, this is easy, a crowd pleaser and will wow your friends. If you’re not feeling in the mood for making your own crackers, store bought are also good, or you could always just serve them with raw veggies!
Toats obs this is awesome with raw veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, beans, carrot sticks, capsicums, sugar snap peas, you name it…well not potato, that’s not too cool raw) but it is also seriously good in a grilled cheese sandwich, mixed in with some mashed sweet potato, slathered on your favourite burger or even mixed through pasta.
I miss the girls so much but every time I make this dip I’m reminded of our fun ‘honeymoon’ together! Don’t worry, we weren’t super healthy all the time we had our fair share of wine on our trip and polished off the leftovers from the candy bar at the wedding….eeek.
Enjoy.
xo Kate
Spinach and Feta Dip with Homemade Lavosh Crackers
Ingredients
For the lavosh crackers:
- 1/4 cup cold pressed olive oil plus extra for brushing on crackers
- 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup all-purpose plain flour
- 1/3 cup wholemeal flour
- 2 Tbsp each black and white sesame seeds
- 1 tsp whole cumin seeds
- 1 tsp sea salt, plus extra for sprinkling on top
For the dip:
- 240 g/8.4oz baby spinach leaves
- 200 g/7oz feta
- 100 g/3.5oz cream cheese
- 100 g/3.5oz sour cream
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 clove garlic, finely grated or crushed
- 1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- olive oil, sesame seeds to serve (optional)
Instructions
For the lavosh crackers:
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Preheat oven to 165C/330F and line a baking tray with baking (parchment) paper.
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In a small bowl mix together olive oil, sesame oil and water and set aside.
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Place flours, sesame seeds, cumin and salt in a large bowl. Combine together then form a small well in the centre. Pour in wet ingredients and stir to form a soft dough.
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Place a piece of parchment paper on a workbench and lightly flour a rolling pin.
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Divide dough into quarters then roll out each quarter into a very thin rectangle like shape. I like to keep my lavosh looking quite rustic and homemade, so it doesn’t really matter what this shape it. Roll the dough out as thin as you possibly can.
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Gently transfer baking paper and lavosh to baking tray. Lightly brush with olive oil using a pastry brush then sprinkle over a good serving of sea salt.
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Place in oven and bake for 15-18 min or until crisp and pale golden. They will crisp up further as they cool. Allow to cool completely on tray then store in an airtight container. Break up lavosh into crackers of whatever size you desire.
For the dip:
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Wash spinach leaving a little water on the leaves. Place in a medium saucepan. Place over low heat, stirring occasionally until the spinach has wilted completely, about 1-2 min.
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Remove from heat and transfer to a colander or sieve. Allow to cool for 5-10 min or until it is cool enough to handle. Transfer to a clean tea towel then wring out to remove as much water as possible. Place in the bowl of a food processor.
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Add feta, cream cheese, sour cream, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper and process until almost smooth. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve with homemade lavosh crackers and vegetable crudites. Store any leftover dip in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Recipe Notes
For the lavosh crackers: Preheat oven to 165C/330F and line a baking tray with baking (parchment) paper. In a small bowl mix together olive oil, sesame oil and water and set aside. Place flours, sesame seeds, cumin and salt in a large bowl. Combine together then form a small well in the centre. Pour in wet ingredients and stir to form a soft dough. Place a piece of parchment paper on a workbench and lightly flour a rolling pin. Divide dough into quarters then roll out each quarter into a very thin rectangle like shape. I like to keep my lavosh looking quite rustic and homemade, so it doesn’t really matter what this shape it. Roll the dough out as thin as you possibly can. Gently transfer baking paper and lavosh to baking tray. Lightly brush with olive oil using a pastry brush then sprinkle over a good serving of sea salt. Place in oven and bake for 15-18 min or until crisp and pale golden. They will crisp up further as they cool. Allow to cool completely on tray then store in an airtight container. Break up lavosh into crackers of whatever size you desire. For the dip: Wash spinach leaving a little water on the leaves. Place in a medium saucepan. Place over low heat, stirring occasionally until the spinach has wilted completely, about 1-2 min. Remove from heat and transfer to a colander or sieve. Allow to cool for 5-10 min or until it is cool enough to handle. Transfer to a clean tea towel then wring out to remove as much water as possible. Place in the bowl of a food processor. Add feta, cream cheese, sour cream, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper and process until almost smooth. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve with homemade lavosh crackers and vegetable crudites. Store any leftover dip in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Lavosh recipe adapted from Annabel Langbein.
If you make this, I would love to see! Tag your photo with #mylittlelarder on Instagram or Facebook or leave a comment and some stars below!
If you’re looking for some other delicious SNACKS from My Little Larder then you may like:
- Sesame Chicken Bites with Sriracha Mayo
- Basic Bliss Balls
- Sticky Soy Glazed Chicken Wings
- Spicy Kidney Bean Dip
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