White Bean Spread and Dip

Bean spread makes a lovely appetizer spooned on top of crostini, or serve it as a dip with pita wedges or thin slices of grilled bread. Leftovers, if any, are good on a sandwich or a tartine. You can use home cooked beans or open a can of organic low sodium beans. Both would work fine. If you cook beans you may as well cook more than you need and keep the extra in the freezer for use in another recipe. I mash the beans while still hot with a potato masher but you can do it in a food processor and pulse a few times to reach the right texture. It shouldn’t be completely smooth, a few beans peaking through will announce that this is a bean dip and a little texture is always nice.

Mediterranean bean dip

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons fresh thyme

1 can cannelini beans, drained and rinsed or 2 cups cooked beans

A few hot pepper flakes
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoon flat leaf parsley, chopped

Directions:

Heat oil in a skillet large enough to hold the beans. Add onion and cook until softened. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add thyme and stir to infuse the oil with the herb.

Add the beans and cook over medium low heat until beans are heated through.

Add hot pepper, salt, pepper and lemon juice.

With a hand held potato masher mash some of the bean to a coarse paste, leaving about 1/2-1/3 of the beans unmashed.

Drizzle with more olive oil if mixture seems dry.

Add the parsley and stir to distribute it throughout the dip.

Spoon into a serving dish and serve with crisp breads or spoon onto grilled crostinis.

Drizzle bean dip with a little olive oil before serving.

Bean spread, Eggplant spread

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