Hope everyone had a great weekend! I was off of work last Friday so I decided to take advantage and make a romantic dinner to be ready when Adam got home from work (it is VERY rare that I have dinner waiting for him)! We had a great pasta dish, which I'll be sharing later this week, and I wanted something extra special on the side.
Adam & I love Carrabba's...our favorite thing is their dipping spices for the bread!! So amazing! This recipe is pretty close to it. I had to sub a few things because basil isn't readily available here except in those little packs that are way expensive, so I subbed with an additional tbsp. of fresh parsley and added just a tad of dried basil. If you do use fresh basil just half the amount of parsley listed below. This was really fabulous and it made for a really elegant pairing with our pasta for a romantic dinner.
I do have to admit our romantic dinner was eaten on TV trays watching DVR'd episodes of CSI...our favorite way to spend an evening! Do you eat on TV trays or at the table, or a combination of both? We mostly eat on trays in front of the TV...we really communicate a lot throughout the day so we don't mind unwinding at dinner in front of the TV for now.
Carrabba's Bread Dipping Spices
Source: www.recipelink.com
Makes 1/4 cup
Ingredients:
2 tbsp. chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. dried basil (or 1 tbsp. fresh-if using fresh reduce parsley to 1 tbsp.)
1/8 tsp. dried rosemary (or 1/2 tsp. fresh)
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/8 tsp. ground red pepper (or 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes)
1/2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
1/8 tsp. fresh lemon juice
Directions:
Place all ingredients except olive oil & lemon in a blender or food processor and chop until all ingredients are similar in size. Stir in the olive oil & lemon juice.
For Serving:
In a small dish, place 1 1/2 tsp. spice mixture. Pour 3-4 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil over top of the spice mixture. Serve with french bread for dipping.
Yum, I love the dipping sauces from them, too. Shamefully Eric and I always eat in front of the tv - the dining table is there when we have company over, we unwind with our dvr'd shows (we realized we hadn't watched 3 episodes of America's Next Great Restaurant and we're still missing 5 episodes of No Ordinary Family!). Ugh, we're so behind on tv.
ReplyDeleteThis looks fantastic, although this might be a meal all by itself, too!!! hehe
Yeah! So glad to know we aren't alone in eating in front of the tv:)
ReplyDeleteL.O.V.E. this! our favorite resturant is carrabbas too! thanks for posting!!!
ReplyDeleteThe recipe looks great! We never ate at the table until we had kids.
ReplyDeleteWhen they're all out of the house, I'm sure we'll go back to eating in front of the TV!
Hey! I just found your site and love it! Your strawberry poptarts look so yum. My hubby and I love Carrabbas too and are especially attached to the bread dip. :) I just wrote about this on my blog today, mentioned your link, and used your awesome pic (with you credited, of course!) ;) Hope you get some traffic from it! :)
ReplyDeleteChrista, Thank you so much and thank you for the link love! I appreciate it!!:)
ReplyDeleteI like Bella Notte's dipping sauce and thought that was what was being posted Do you also have that recipe? We eat at the table every night. We began this when the kids were still home and thought it very important to all gather around the table for that little bit of family time. My husband and I find this true with the time we share face to face with no other distractions.
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