Bobby’s Hot Tomato, Jack and Crab Dip

Submitted by Brookelynne26

"From The Deen Family cookbook. Serve with crackers, pita chips, or crostini."

 

• Ready In: 30mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup grated pepper jack cheese
• 1⁄2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 limes, juiced
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce (recommended -- Paula Deen)
• 1 lb lump crabmeat, well drained and picked clean of shells
• 1 cup seeded diced tomato (2 medium tomatoes)
• 1⁄4 cup chopped green onion, white and light green parts (scallions)
• 1⁄4 cup chopped fresh basil leaf
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon crushed black peppercorns
• 2 avocados

directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 1 quart baking dish with nonstick spray.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cream cheese, pepper Jack, mayonnaise, lime juice, and hot sauce until smooth. Fold in the crabmeat, tomatoes, green onions, basil, garlic, salt, and pepper.
3. Smooth the mixture into baking dish. Bake until golden and bubbly, about 30 minutes.
4. Split, pit, peel, and dice the avocados and sprinkle them over the crab dip after it has cooled slightly. Serve warm.

Reviews

[La Dilettante]

This was assigned to me to make for a large cocktail party given by several couples. I have a couple of other crabmeat-for-a-crowd recipes that I would have preferred to make, but thought I'd give this a try. And I like it, it's very good indeed, but falls just short of five-star-worthy. I would suggest using good-quality canned Italian tomatoes (like San Marzano), diced and VERY well-drained, if making this when fresh tomatoes are out of season; the greenhouse ones available in winter have zero flavor. Also, the pepper jack cheese needs to be really hot---mine didn't seem to be, so I added some minced fresh jalapeno to up the heat. When/if I make this again, I may try subbing fresh cilantro for the basil. (Idea for any leftover dip: spoon some over a soft-poached egg on a toasted English muffin, slice avocados on top, and voila'! A superb brunch dish!)