Christoph and Steffi's Food and Travel & Christoph and Steffi's Food and Travel
A bowl of pale cream-coloured bean dip swirled with green olive oil and rosemary, beside a roasted head of garlic with cloves squeezed out
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White bean and roasted garlic dip

A whole head of garlic roasted until it is sweet and spreadable, blended with cannellini beans into something like hummus but softer and rounder. It costs almost nothing and takes five minutes once the garlic is done.

Prep10 min
Cook45 min
0
Oven190°C
Servings6
Cook mode

The house version, built on a roasted head rather than raw cloves

Ingredients

Units
Temperature
Servings
6

Dip

  • 1 whole head of garlic, a large one, and it will taste sweet rather than fierce
  • 480 g cannellini beans, two tins, drained and rinsed, or 200 g dried and cooked soft
  • 60 ml olive oil, plus more for the top
  • 30 ml lemon juice
  • 40 ml warm water, or the liquid from the tin, which is better
  • 6 g fine salt
  • 5 g fresh rosemary, chopped very fine, and less than you think
  • 3 g coarse black pepper

Dietary labels are a guide, not a guarantee. If you have an allergy, read the ingredients yourself.

Method

  1. Cut the top off the garlic head, sit it on foil, pour over a spoon of oil and a pinch of salt, wrap it and roast at 190°C for 40 to 45 minutes.
  2. Squeeze the cloves out when cool enough to handle and discard the papery shell.
  3. Blend everything until completely smooth, adding the water a little at a time. It should be looser than hummus.
  4. Serve at room temperature with a pool of oil and a little more rosemary.

Notes

  • Roasting transforms the garlic completely. Raw garlic in a bean dip is harsh and stays harsh; roasted, it goes sweet, nutty and almost caramel, and you can use an entire head without anyone flinching.
  • Rosemary is easy to overdo. It is resinous and will take over the bowl. Five grams for half a kilo of beans is enough.
  • Use the tin liquid. Bean liquid is starchy and gives a silkier result than water, exactly as chickpea liquid does in hummus.
  • It keeps 4 days, and thickens in the fridge; loosen with water rather than more oil.

Ingredient substitutions

  • Cannellini are the softest and best here. Butter beans are creamier still and excellent. Haricot or navy beans work but are firmer and need more blending.
  • Roast the garlic in bulk. Three heads take the same time as one, and roasted garlic keeps a week in oil in the fridge.

Sources consulted

Good with

Sources consulted

From Christoph Mayer

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