Hi guys, I'm Laura Vitale, on this episode of Laura in the Kitchen, I'm going to show
you how to make one of my favorite treats, one of my favorite dips in the whole wide
world!
This is my Queso Blanco dip, I am so obsessed, I hardly ever make it because when I do, I
never leave the scene of the crime, right here.
I get my tortilla chips, I've got my queso blanco, and I just yum yum and I can't stop..
I'm sharing this with you today because I have people over, and there is just a better
chance of me not eating the whole thing by myself, if you agree, let me know down below.
If you are like me, we are soul sisters or soul brothers and sisters.
Okay, I've got a sauce pan, in the sauce pan all you do is add some half and half.
Now I also have my broiler pre-heated because I like to broil the very top of this ti give
it a lovely melty bubbly golden brown color, but it's not necessary.
Then you need the American cheese, now I know a lot of recipes call for American and Fontina,
American and whatever, I like straight up American.
I like the mildness of it, I love the pull of it, I love everything about just plain
American cheese, and what I think is the best - when you buy pre-shredded, pre-shredded
cheese is coated with a powder substance of some sort, and I find that does not melt very
well, so what I do is I just go to the deli and say 'hey, can I have one pound of white
American cheese, and then I stack it together, I stack the slices together and cut them into
cubes, the reason I do this is, like I said it melts a lot better.
If you were go go and buy a bag of pre-shredded, that powdery substance keeps it from melting
the way I want it to that's why I do it this way, and I'm telling you once you do it this
way, you'll never do it any other way.
Then I have a small can of diced mild green chili's.
A necessity.
Then I have dried oregano and dried cumin along with salt and pepper, and for my toppings
I have cilantro, pickled jalapenos and some diced tomatoes, I have seeded the tomatoes
because I don't want the seeds and excess liquid in the tomatoes to make my queso blanco
a little bit runny.
And I don't like that.
Okay, my half and half is almost where I want it, you can see there are bubbles around the
edge, now turn the heat down and start adding your American cheese.
And as it melts you add the next few chunks, but you've just gotta stir it the whole time
until everything is melted, and this could take a few minutes, but you need to be patient,
don't throw it in all at once because it can all seize up together and not melt correctly.
Alright, my cheese is just about all melted, I'm going to add my chili, my green mild canned
chili's.
And then my cumin and my oregano.
A good bit of pepper.
And then you need a healthy pinch of salt.
And then just stir these around to combine, I would say for maybe about another minute
or so or until - well just about another minute and then we're going to take this off the
heat.
Perfect, this smells absolutely incredible.
Now you can serve this just like this but I like to pop it under the broiler for just
a few minutes.
And I've got a dish there, if you're doing this in a cast iron skillet, you don't have
to transfer but I like to just transfer into a separate dish, like so.
And as this sits, of course it will thicken, it will thicken in just a few minutes, so
you obviously wouldn't want to serve this - or I don't anyway, I don't want to server
this piping hot, but in just a few minutes you can tell it makes the biggest difference
in terms of texture.
I'm going to pop this under the broiler just until the top starts to develop a lovely golden
brown color then I'm going to let it sit for a few minutes and then we are ready to dig
in.
This is why I broil mine, okay so if you love to make yourself a grilled cheese, and the
cheese just so happens to spill on the side and it caramelizes, and gets crispy golden
brown, that's what that tastes like, so that's why I broil it because it's definitely worth
the extra effort, but keep an eye on it because it only takes like an extra 35 seconds.
Well every broiler is different, but they work very quickly.
Okay, now I'm going to sprinkle the top with my, I call these my confetti toppings because
you've got your tomato, kind of like - I don't want to call it a salsa, I don't like to add
any lime juice to this, you know I'm not trying to make my queso blanco watery, nobody likes
a watery queso blanco.
And then pickled jalapenos, because pickled jalapenos are one of the best things that
have ever happened in the food world, ever of all time.
I love them so much, I love them on everything and everything, so I like to add some around
because I am one that really enjoys - you can also leave them out of course, but I'm
a fan, so I add them right in because they're my favorite.
And then, just a few leaves of cilantro, just to make it look good, you know, I mean that's
just gorgeous.
Now as one of my favorite women of all-time, Miss Wendy Williams herself said, 'can we
talk?'.
Because this, I just can't.
If you could just smell it you'd understand.
Look see, that cheesy goodness, like it creates - I just want you to see this it creates like
an outer layer, I want some of that jalapeno.
I'm not afraid of some heat.
Look how lovely and thick that is.
I don't like it to be watery.
I like it to be nice and thick, that's why you let it sit for a few minutes, and I also
want to tell you if you have any leftovers, don't you dare throw them out, put them into
the fridge, and then tomorrow put them into a saucepan with just a little bit more of
the half and half and just cook it until it loosens and becomes nice and runny again and
then you've got more queso blanco.
I just can't.
That is what dreams are made of.
It's so good.
So creamy.
To die for.
Go to LauraintheKitchen.com to get the recipe.
Here I go!
Can't stop myself!
Hope you've enjoyed spending time with me, you have to make this this weekend, when your
friends come over, you'll never get them out of your house, but you have to make it and
share it with them.
Hope you've enjoyed spending time with me and I'll see you next time.
Bye!