On a snowy Sunday, I found Suzen checking out our cookbooks.
“What are you looking for?” I asked. I can be helpful. Sometimes.
“Something interesting,” she said calmly. She’s not six feet tall so her hand was reaching up to manipulate the books on the top row.
“Something chocolate?” I suggested. Suzen likes chocolate.
“Go away.” Her fingers kept moving across the titles.
The Instant Bean was published in 1996 and you can still buy one at Amazon. We had not played with the book in a long time, but now we know that was a mistake.
When we go to an Italian restaurant, I have two ways of knowing if it is going to be authentic and good. First. Caesar Salad. If it’s on the menu, since this salad was created in Tijuana, I know I am in a non-Italian restaurant. Second, the bean dip. If it comes, and if it is wonderful, then I know I can trust that menu, every item.
Bean tip as a deciding factor? Yes. Very yes. If you have ever had great, great bean dip then you know exactly what I mean. Beans, of course, are referred to as beans. In the food family, they always get to sit in the back of the bus. That’s a mistake. Beans can be components for the best in food. Think chili for example, or a bean salad with tuna.
Ah, but in those cases, the beans are not that much on their own. Chili contains spices. Salad has salad dressing. A bean dip is in essence beans. The trick is to get great flavor and texture from the beans alone. And, as an added hurdle, you want something that his balanced. Not too this, not too that.
This recipe is gargantuan. It is full of flavor, yet it has precisely that balance of ingredients so no one note overpowers you. Except, of course, there is this definitive bean flavor that makes you say, “Oh, that’s what beans are all about?”
As the recipe below suggests, this bean puree can be used in many ways: appetizer, first course, spread for sandwiches, or fun topping for radishes or cucumber. Once you’ve made this, you are quite likely to have a bowl around in your fridge, ready to use and enjoy.
Puree of White Beans with Roasted Garlic and Rosemary
Yield: 2 cups serving 4 as first course
Ingredients:
- 1 15-ounce can white beans or cannellini, drained and rinsed
- 2 tablespoons chicken broth or water
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt or to taste
- 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves
- 1 head of oven-roasted garlic [recipe follows], the cloves squeezed from their skins
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper or more to taste
Preparation:
Put all the ingredients into a food processor and blend, pulsing several times and scraping down the sides, until smooth. Add more olive oil or borht if you like a creamier consistency.
Serve with toasted pita triangles asa first course, asa dip with raw vegetables, or as a spread on 1/8 inch-thick slickes of daikon radish or slightly thicker slices of cucumber.
Oven-Roasted Garlic
Yield: 1 head
Ingredients:
- 1 head of garlic
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 325°F.
Slice off the top quarter of the head of garlic, drizzle with the olive oil, and sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Wrap in foil and bake until the cloves are soft eand creamy, about 40 to 50 minutes. Cool in the foil or unwrap.
When cool, break the head apart and sqeeze each clove from its skin. Roasted garlic can be made up to 3 days in advance and kept chilled in a tightly closed container.
Source: The Instant Bean by Martin Stone
Photo Information: Canon T2i, EFS Macro Lens 60mm, F/4.5, 1/50th second, ISO-250