Forget the cholesterol-lowering drugs...

...just point me directly to the closest open heart surgery center.

Ziggy and I, being lovers of most things Italian and all things garlic, tried something new today.

I was reading about Farmington's

Italian Fest

this past weekend, and noticed something about a recipe that I'd never heard of. Bagna calda. The Italian translation is "hot bath".

I think the Italians missed it on the translation, though. Something like "garlic putanesca" might be more appropriate. Or maybe "liquid heart attack".

So I googled the recipe, found a couple variations and tried one this evening.

Oh. My. Gawd.

I fixed it and added some crusty French bread and some nice plump, pink shrimp for dipping. Zig raided our little patio garden and came up with a few end-of-season tomatoes. I chopped those up, added some fresh chopped basil (also from the patio), a can of black olives (I know...it's heresy...I didn't have any Klamatas on hand, though) and drizzled the whole thing with some good olive oil, a little kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper. A couple different kinds of cheeses rounded out our Italian feast.

Did I say "Oh. My. Gawd."?

So anywho, here's the recipe I used:

1/4 lb. butter
1 C. good EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil)
2 cans anchovy filets, chopped
8-10 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 pint heavy cream

In a large skillet, combine all hot dipping sauce ingredients. Cook for 5 minutes on med/low until the anchovies have disappeared (they really DO just kinda...liquefy). Raise heat and cook until bubbling, then simmer to keep hot or serve in a fondue pot. Makes approximately 2 cups of dip. Serve with bite-sized fresh vegetables or chunks of crusty bread.

I cheated and used 3 heaping teaspoons of bottled, crushed garlic...it mixed up a lot easier. I also used Half and Half rather than the whole cream...just because. Oh, I also added 8 or 10 good cranks of the ole pepper mill. Absolutely DO NOT add any salt, though...the anchovies are briny. Aaaand, I used a whisk to really combine the hot ingredients...otherwise, it separates.

The bagna calda is the most sensuous, utterly decadent thing I've ever wrapped my lips around. Well...almost. I just can't believe I've never heard of it before. I'm thinkin maybe a little drizzled over a big ole rare grilled sirloin would be absolutely scandalous.

The other recipe I found was nearly identical, except they omitted the cream altogether. I tasted it before adding the cream and it was good that way, too.

I'm thinkin, though...olive oil is supposed to be good for ya. Anchovies, though incredibly salty, are a good source of fish oil which is also supposed to be good for ya. We all know that garlic is supposed to be good for ya. So maybe it's not quite so bad as I think, right? All that good stuff oughta cancel out the butter and cream, right?

Uh huh. I'll keep tellin myself that.

In the meantime, I don't think we'll hafta worry about vampires around here any time soon.