I was a huge fan of Babylon 5, and learned there about a hot oil dip called bagna cauda. Security Chief Michael Garibaldi made it for his birthday, in memory of his father. It’s a northern Italian dip, from the Piedmont region he said.
You really have to like strong flavors, but I adore it.
Warm gently, in the top of a double boiler, equal amounts of butter and olive oil. Say, eight ounces of each. Then add finely minced garlic. The amount can vary, depending on what you like, but I’ve used at least six cloves. Just before you are ready to serve, stir in, breaking it up, a two ounce tin of anchovies. Keep this mix warm in a fondue pot. You dip chunks of fresh bread and crisp veggies in it. Pieces of bell pepper, tomato, baby carrots, whatever you like.
When this mix cools it sets up, but is still soft enough to spread on fresh Italian bread, and toast in the oven like garlic bread.
Dr. Franklin, on being invited to share this dish with Mr. Garibaldi, looked at it dubiously and said “I can feel my arteries hardening just being in the same room with it.” But he ended up really liking it.
Following up on Sir T-Cups’s recommendation, pretty much any standard sour-cream-and-soup-mix dip is very good, and a lot healthier, with plain lowfat yogurt substituted for part or all of the sour cream.
An Indian-style “raita”-type dip is plain lowfat yogurt with salt, ground cumin, lemon juice, fresh chopped cilantro, a little chili powder, and minced onions/cucumbers/tomatoes/whatever mixed in. Delish on bread or crackers.
i make a dip from a tub of sour cream and add all the spices that you use for Taco meat. Chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, hot red pepper flakes and a dash of oregano. keep mixing them in until it tastes the way you like it. Refrigerate, and then serve with tortilla chips.
[spoiler]Prepare an expandable (‘leaf’) table by cutting a 2" to 4" circular hole in the middle, depending on the size of the ‘dip bowl’. Spread the halves of the table slightly.
Insert a small monkey into the gap in the table, and close the table such that the hole in the middle goes around the monkey’s neck, holding it securely.
Remove the monkey’s scalp, then remove the top of the skull with a Dremel saw, being careful the monkey does not lose consciousness.
Mash avocados. Add chopped peppers (I just use a can of drained chopped jalapenos and add a smidge of the juice), chopped onion, chopped tomato, and lemon juice to keep it from turning brown. Salt, if you wish, though if you’re using chips you don’t need the salt.
Mrs. L.A. insists on pretty much naked guacamole. I think she uses a little garlic powder, but that’s it. She likes to ‘taste the avocado’. I like it her way, but if I were making it for myself I’d add jalapeños.