As Maggie called it from the picture, gooey goodness.

I love this recipe. I spent my whole childhood hating the Reuben casserole my mom would make (mostly because it had corned beef, Swiss and way too much sauerkraut, things I don’t particularly like), but in this incarnation I love Reubens.

Unfortunately, I now have to temporarily hate Hot Pastrami Reuben Dip because it’s what I made on Sunday when the Steelers lost to the Ravens in a most spectacular implosion of mismanagement and undisciplined play in the final couple of minutes of the game. (Even worse, now my new Steelers headband has unfortunately moved to 3-1 this season.) To some football fans, complaining about 3-1 may sound spoiled or insincere. It’s not. Not when you had a chance to defeat your fiercest division rival — sorry Browns — who were an early pick to go to the Super Bowl. The Steeler fan’s chip-on-the-shoulder-why-does-no-one-respect-our-team never really ever goes away, and in my case, this grudge is going to be taken out on a dip.

Yes, I know this hurts me more than it does a Reuben-style dish. No one ever said love was fair or logical.

Actually, maybe Spock said that. Between a child psychologist and a fictional sci-fi being that does not know emotion, I imagine one of them said love wasn’t fair or logical.

Maybe you believe it was a Raven’s miracle. Maybe you’ll love this Hot Pastrami Reuben Dip even more because you love seeing the Steelers lose. As incredible as it may seem, there are an awful lot of people who get a joy out of the Steelers losing. (I also assume these people hate puppies, reading and fun, but we shouldn’t judge now, should we.) So maybe those fans will make this delicious dip every Sunday for the rest of the season. And maybe other Steeler fans will make Hot Pastrami Reuben Dips because obviously it was the combination of me and the dip that ended with a Pittsburgh loss.

Or maybe Bruce Arians will finally be fired, which in that case means I can freely make Hot Pastrami Reuben Dip any time I want knowing that they’d at least try to throw the ball for a first down to run down the clock and secure the win. Heck, if they fire Arians, I’ll make Hot Pastrami Reuben Dip for everyone I know plus a few thousand people I don’t know. I’ll be the crazy lady running through the street with a chafing dish in one hand and a box of rye Triscuits in the other, yelling, “WE’RE FREE! HE CAN HURT US NO MORE! HERE! WOULD YOU LIKE SOME DIP?!?!”

Something like that.

Video blog of the recipe hosted by Bryan and Sarah this week for director’s and cook’s commentary! More pictures and detailed instructions after the jump!

Hot Pastrami Reuben Dip with Russian style dressing and Provolone not Swiss because Swiss is stinky (but you can use Swiss if you like).

You will need:

Widescreen-ish!

3/4 a pound of good quality deli pastrami, chopped
1-2 cups of sauerkraut, depending on taste. (Half a 16 oz jar or bag is usually 1 cup.)
8 oz and 4 oz of provolone cheese, separated and chopped. (Or you can use Swiss. I think it’s better with provolone.)
8 oz of cream cheese, softened to room temperature
8 oz (1 cup) of sour cream
1/2 of a medium sized onion
3 tablespoons of ketchup
1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon of celery seeds. (Or if you don’t have celery seeds, celery salt and omit the other salt. And if you don’t have either, you might want to re-examine how you’re making your Bloody Mary’s for football brunching.)
1/2 teaspoon of salt, kosher preferred
1/2 teaspoon of ground pepper
1 heaping tablespoon of mustard, to taste.

No one has a good looking wrist. So I tell myself.

If you’re like me and not a big fan of sauerkraut, this step is crucial. If you hate runny dip, and I think we can all agree no one likes a runny dip, this is also an important step. Drain and squeeze all the liquid out of the sauerkraut. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze like it’s a stress ball and you’re a Texans fan. (Seriously Texans fans, you get so revved up to play the Cowboys every year, it’s so damn adorable how Dallas can just stomp on your dreams.)

Set aside to rest and drain some more.

Or use a bowl and a knife.

Chop 1/2 of a medium onion, and blend together with Worcestershire sauce, celery seeds, ketchup, salt and pepper.

Blend blend blend.

And blend together with the cream cheese and sour cream.

Pour into a bowl to rest if you are doing this step ahead of time, (I do this so I can assemble during commercials and bake at the half, or the night before), or pour directly into an oven proof dish for the baking if you are making it right away.

Todd Heaping amount of mustard? No wonder we lost.

Swirl in a heaping tablespoon of mustard into the dressing.  You don’t have to add mustard if you don’t want to, but it adds a nice little bit of depth to the other flavors in the dip.

Pastrami! Far superior to plain corned beef! Why did no one tell me when I was young?

Fold in your pastrami.

White on white on white, the Friday Football Foodie’s white balance nightmare.

And mix in 8 ounces of either provolone or Swiss cheese.

More white balance nightmares. Swear half my pics and video were unusable.

Top with the desired amount of sauerkraut and the remaining 4 ounces or so of cheese.

Bake at 350º until bubbly, about 25-35 minutes.

Crooked photo because I was trying to keep the heat in.

Now, I bake this dip. I know other people put their Hot Reuben Dips in Crock-pots to let heat for a few hours. That’s up to you, but if you decide to make it in a slow cooker, be sure to fold in ALL the cheese and the sauerkraut and not let them sit on the top. Also, keep a small amount of extra sour cream on hand or maybe some of the drained sauerkraut water to add back in later, because I have found that dips made in slow cookers tend to dry out after a while once everyone starts leaving the lid off all of the time for serving.

Team Triscuit!

Serve with cocktail rye or pumpernickel bread, rye crackers and pretzel thins.

Don’t forget to add your pictures to Football Foodies Flickr Group from last weekend and be sure to get some new shots this weekend!


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3 Responses to The Friday Football Foodie – Hot Pastrami Reuben Dip

  1. Clare says:

    OMG MST3K REFERENCES WILL YOU TWO PLEASE ADOPT ME

  2. […] light. You want to make something fatty, make something fatty. This dip is healthier than say, Hot Pastrami Reuben Dip, but it’s not so healthy you can’t lighten it up even more by reducing the amount of […]

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