Torino Carciofo Tuffo—Vermouth Artichoke Dip

Warm, oozy and boozy, creamy and cheesy artichoke, spinach, and mushroom dip with toasted garlic olive oil ciabatta

I first had a version of this dip about 15-years ago at ASK restaurant, albeit different, but I loved it that much it inspired me over the years to reverse-engineer the dish and construct my own ode to the recipe.

I collected similar recipes over the years and used elements of them to build on. Many of them ask for almost equal parts spinach, mushroom, artichoke, parmesan; not actually 1:1:1:1 ratio, but, in terms of flavour balance, tastes like 1:1:1:1.

[Sidebar] In this sense, food is similar to weather and temperature, or rather atmosphere—or, better yet, music. For every official temperature, there is a ‘feels like’ temperature, which is what the air feels like to us and is dependent on other atmospheric factors. Similarly, food is a balancing act. Equal ratios by weight ≠ equal balance of flavour. Might seem obvious, but it can get quite complicated when your recipe starts requiring more than 3 or 4 main ingredients.

🔑 🥡 TASTE, TASTE, TASTE!

However, I prefer my recipes to have a star, or stars, of the show; hero ingredients that stand out. So, I’ve tweaked the recipe over the years and will continue to do so to improve it every time (so this page will be constantly updated as I tweak the balance).

Since the market is saturated with dips that celebrate the flavours of spinach, mushroom, and cheese, I decided to increase the power of the vermouth and artichoke, and the clove as lead backing singer. 🧑‍🎤

The name I’ve given the dish also reflects this and pays respect to the key ingredient origins in Italy. Torino, or Turin, being the origin of vermouth, and Carciofo Tuffo translating to artichoke dip. For ease and simplicity, I now just refer to this recipe as, TCT.

I always make this dip for parties, team celebrations at work, or just as a treat to spoil loved ones. It has become a pièce de résistance of mine. Always being devoured, no matter how much extra is made. It is real easy to make and equally easy to scale up or down in batches. Can be made day or two in advance, and just like curry, the flavour deepens when done this way.

Another benefit of this dish is its versatility; the base dish is vegetarian, so it’s great for most guests; however, it’s super easy to make it suitable for pescatarians by adding a skewer of sweet Madagascan tiger prawns.

In fact, any skewer would work well such as monkfish skewers, or thinly slice beef steak, such as ribeye would go down a treat for the meat-eaters.

We have only scratched the surface, other recipe ideas you could tweak to use this TCT dip in place of include; stuffed burgers, pastry twists, mac ‘n’ cheese, frittata, melts, bombs, and stuffings/stuffed chicken.

But this wouldn’t be Griffin Dumplin without any dumplings, so how about some pierogi inspiration, or why not try our own TCT dumpling creation with our osso buco recipe.

For the dippers, we used ciabatta in keeping with the Italian vibe, but you could use crackers, crisps, baguette, chips, or crudités.

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Ingredients

Serves/makes 4-6 portions, depending on serving size

for the dip

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 2 shallots or half large red onion, minced

• 1 pointed red pepper or red bell pepper, diced

• 1 large or 2 mini Portobello mushrooms, chopped

• Handful of fresh parsley, minced

• 1/4 teaspoon fresh or dry thyme

• 1/4 teaspoon dry oregano

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper

• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, grated

• 1/4 teaspoon allspice

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, increase/decrease to taste

• 1 cup dry vermouth, increase/decrease to taste

• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

• 1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

• 200g spinach, sliced and discarding thick stalks

• 400g canned or marinated artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped

• 200g sour cream

• 100g cream cheese, at room temperature

• 75g Pecorino Romano cheese, grated

• 75g Parmesan cheese, grated

• Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste

• Green or red Tabasco sauce, to taste

• Sprigs of fresh parsley, to garnish

for the dippers

• 2 ciabatta bread, thinly sliced

• Garlic olive oil

• dry oregano or Italian mixed herbs

• sea salt

• course black pepper

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Method

for the dip

• In a medium saucepan, heat butter and olive oil over medium-high heat until bubbling.

• Crush garlic with side of knife and dice, then slice shallot and cook for 30 seconds.

  

  • Tip: to cut shallots, or any onion, cut top end off the onion, then cut the onion in half right down the middle, leaving half the root base attached to each half. Peel off and discard the skin, then slice.

    If you require the onion diced, first slice along the onion horizontally a couple of times at different heights before slicing vertically, ensuring to stop before reaching the root base, so that the onion remains intact.

    

• Cut red pepper into small equal squares and sauté with the above.

  

• Dice mushrooms and add along with parsley. Sauté until peppers and mushrooms are wilted and start browning. 

  

• Add thyme, oregano, cayenne pepper, fresh grated nutmeg, freshly ground cloves, and salt and pepper, stirring constantly. Dish should start to become very fragrant.

  

• Add half the vermouth and continue stirring constantly, cooking until liquid is almost evaporated.

• Add Worcestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar. 

• If you have time, lay spinach leaves on top of each other in batches and slice thinly, discarding the thicker stalks, then add to pan. If you can’t be bothered, just roughly chop spinach and add, as it will wilt nicely regardless.

  

• Slice and add artichoke hearts.

  

• Reduce heat or switch to smaller burner so heat is medium-low. Add leftover vermouth (or even more, to taste). Add sour cream and cream cheese. Stir to combine well.

  

• Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until mixture is well blended.

• Add Pecorino and Parmesan cheese, fold in to combine well and keep on a low heat until ready to serve. (Optional: add extra clove and/or allspice to taste)

  

  

for the dippers

• Cut ciabatta into thin slices.

• Spread ciabatta slices evenly over baking paper on a baking tray.

• Drizzle ciabatta slices with garlic olive oil, generously.

  

• Sprinkle with herbs and seasoning. (Optional: sprinkle with clove or allspice)

• Bake for between 3-10mins at 180°C, depending on thickness and desired crispness.

Serve dip warm in a large sharing dish or small individual dishes, such as pot pie dishes or ramekins.

Garnish with additional fresh parsley.