Blue cheese dip

Eleanor Steafel
·2-min read
Blue cheese dip served with crisps, celery and cornichons
This moreish dip is an easy win for dinner parties if you only have time to cook a main - Eleanor Steafel

I had a dip I didn’t know I needed in my life this summer. It was in a restaurant called Keen’s, an old steak restaurant in midtown Manhattan, where Churchwarden pipes hang from the ceiling and the menu is the platonic ideal of a steakhouse menu (oysters, shrimp cocktail, prime rib, baked potatoes, creamed spinach, very good French fries).

I have no idea what was in the blue cheese dip, but it sat somewhere between salty and sweet and was strangely addictive. Whatever was in it, it was one of those simple but perfect things you find yourself wondering why you don’t eat more often.

I think a version of this dip could be a good, easy win for those Friday nights when you have people coming over for dinner and only really have time to cook a main. I tend to go for a ‘nice things to dig into’ situation on the snacks front anyway (crisps, olives, anchovies, some sort of cheese, good bread and oil).

Overview

Prep time

20 mins

Serves

6

Ingredients

  • 80g sour cream

  • juice of ½ lemon

  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard

  • 1 garlic clove, grated

  • 100ml double cream

  • 140g blue cheese (something chalky), crumbled

  • 1 tbsp vinegar from a jar of pickles (alternatively you can use white wine vinegar)

Some ideas for serving

  • bunch of very cold celery sticks

  • bunch of radishes (optional), left whole or cut in half

  • small handful of cornichons (or a bigger pickle, sliced into chunks or spears)

  • large bag of crisps (definitely salted or salt and vinegar, possibly salt and black pepper, maybe paprika)

  • bunch of little skin-on roast potatoes

  • fresh baguette, thinly sliced

Method

Step 1

Put 80g sour cream, the juice of ½ lemon and 1 tsp Dijon mustard in a large bowl. Grate over 1 garlic clove and mix. Stir through 100ml double cream.

Step 2

Add 140g crumbled blue cheese. You want most of the cheese to be in very small crumbs but I think it’s nice to have some lumpier bits to scoop them up with your celery.

Step 3

The dip will be quite thick at this point – thin it out with 1 tbsp vinegar from the pickle jar (or 1 tbsp white wine vinegar). Taste and add salt if you think it needs it. It may depend on how salty your blue cheese is.

Step 4

You can eat it straight away but it’ll also benefit from sitting for a bit and letting the flavours mingle. I like to serve it cool rather than fridge cold.

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