White Bean Dip

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White bean dip

Generally I’m not a hoarder. Although I do keep some things like plastic containers and plastic cutlery. My Bro and I literally cannot throw these things out. We wash them and keep them BECAUSE THEY’RE USEFUL. Alastair doesn’t agree. Sometimes he’ll get so frustrated that he will sneakily clean out the cupboards and throw our plastic away. The next day, we’ll be all accusing, “Did you throw our containers away??!”

So I’m not a hoarder but there are a few items that I have a lot of. For example, I own 8 different kinds of oil – canola, vegetable, peanut, rice bran, olive, extra virgin olive, avocado and macadamia.

The other week I started making a white bean dip, and then realised that I had run out of extra-virgin olive oil. The normal olive oil I own is just cheap stuff to cook with, so I couldn’t use that. I decided to try the macadamia oil which is infused with chilli and lime. (It sounds nicer than it actually tastes.)

I forged ahead even though I had concerns about how it would turn out. The flavour was kind of all over the place – hello basil, hello garlic, hello chilli, hello lime?! But, it was passable. However, if I made it again I would definitely use plain olive oil…. alternatively I could always try one of the other 6 remaining bottles of oil!

White bean dip

1 can cannelini beans, drained and rinsed
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 handful basil leaves
Salt and pepper
Good quality oil – whatever kind rocks your boat

Pulse the beans, garlic and basil roughly in a food processor. Add salt and pepper to taste, then, on a low speed, add enough oil to process into a chunky paste. Serve with crackers or grissini.