White bean and roasted garlic dip
Units
Temperature
Servings
Ingredients
Dip
- 1 whole head of garlic, a large one, and it will taste sweet rather than fierce rounded
- 480 g cannellini beans, two tins, drained and rinsed, or 200 g dried and cooked soft rounded
- 60 ml olive oil, plus more for the top rounded
- 30 ml lemon juice rounded
- 40 ml warm water, or the liquid from the tin, which is better rounded
- 6 g fine salt rounded
- 5 g fresh rosemary, chopped very fine, and less than you think rounded
- 3 g coarse black pepper rounded
Method
Method
- 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.
- Squeeze the cloves out when cool enough to handle and discard the papery shell.
- Blend everything until completely smooth, adding the water a little at a time. It should be looser than hummus.
- 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.