Chili Cheese Dip Recipe

Back in the late 1980s, a friend/ roommate introduced me to a nice French cheese called boursin. It’s reminiscent of chevre (goat’s cheese), but without that occasional sour aftertaste. Boursin’s garlic and herbs flavouring, and it’s rich, creamy texture make it a great cheese for spreading on crackers. In fact, two of my roommates went on a lot of picnics, and occasionally took their boat out on a lake just north of Toronto. It’s for one of these outings that Steve and Kim picked up some boursin from Toronto’s fabled Kensington Market.

Steve introduced me to a great little cheese shop in Kensington. It was ridiculously narrow and long, but always packed on Saturdays - the only time I could make it there. For a few years while I lived in Toronto, I bought most of my cheese there, and sometimes from a great Italian market in the Church and Jarvis area, near the ritzy Hogtown.

But after I moved away from Toronto, I had a hard time finding boursin cheese. Until one day, a couple of years ago, I found a box in my mother’s fridge. Someone had introduced it to her, and she enjoyed it very much.

It’s an expensive cheese, but most cream cheeses seem to be. Every once in a while, though, I manage to get some. And each time, I try something different with it. Here’s a recipe for a very spicy “chili cheese dip” party snack, perfect with plain nachos or tortilla chips/ strips.

Ingredients
Boursin, chevre, or cream cheese, softened at room temperature.
Sambal oelek, aka garlic chili paste
Finely minced scallions (green onions, spring onions)

Preparation
Make sure that the cheese is soft enough to mix easily with the sambal oelek with a fork. You’ll have to start with a small quantity of sambal oelek, taste the mix, then add more if it’s not spicy enough. Add in some of the scallions for texture and mix roughly. Keep in mind that you want to be able to scoop with your chips

Presentation
Serve with nachos, restaurant-style tortilla strips - or make your own - or use corn chip scoops.

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