The remains of the dip

crab dip

This sad pic demonstrates the remainder of the crab dip I made for a party at my husband's grandmother's house. She had guest in from Wa state and put me in charge of the app. All the food at the party was AMAZING (she made fried chicken, butter beans, fresh sliced tomatoes from her garden, rolls, coleslaw w/ apples and walnuts and corn on the cob. For desert, blondies, brownies, pound cake w/ peaches and watermelon) and showed true Virginia hospitality. Keeping with the Va and esp Chesapeake bay theme, I decided to make blue crab dip. I asked folks on chowhound to submit their fav. recipes and said that I would post the winner here so here is the recipe that I liked the most....I made it, but wasn't really happy with the end result so after this recipe I am posting the recipe I made for the party.

Crab dip recipe from chowhound.com

8oz cream cheese, softened approx. 8 oz. lump crab meat (varies depending on the type of meat available- lump, claw, "special"- I use more if the pieces are small)

1 small or 1/2 medium onion minced

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp dijon mustard

1 tsp old bay seasoning

1 clove garlic minced

1 tbsp lemon juices

s &p to taste

This recipe was good but not what I had in mind, I wanted something less tangy and smoother. The recipe I served came for a local cook book called Culinary Artists (hope I don't get in trouble for posting this, but think the book is out of print so shouldn't matter) and is from Toques creative catering in Va. Beach

Warm Artichoke-crab cheese dip

*1 lb softened cream cheese

1 c mayo (Hellman's)

1/2 c grated parm

1/2 c grated Gruyere or Swiss (I used and Italian cheese blend because I had it on hand)

1-2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tbl lemon juice

1 tsp garlic powder

dash Tabasco

1 (13 0z) can artichoke hearts (I used 1/2 pkg frozen and chopped hearts instead)

1 bunch green onions (I used grated onion juice instead)

1 lb lump crab meat (I used backfin)

crackers or bagel chips

*preheat oven to 350

in a mixing bowl whip cream cheese until smooth. add mayo and blend. Add cheese, Worcestershire, lemon, garlic and Tabasco. blend all ingredients until incorporated. Fold in artichokes, crab meat and green onion. Place all ingredients into an ovenproof casserole dish. Bake in oven until bubbly and golden brown. (i topped w/ a little extra parm, some parsley and a little old bay seasoning)

This was hands down the best crab dip I have ever had...people that tried it that didn't like crab loved it and asked for the recipe! Very fatty but def worth the calories!