When I was recently making one of my favorite hummus recipes I accidentally opened up a can of cannellini beans instead of chickpeas. That left me with an opened can of cannelini beans that I was unsure how to use. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve used them plenty of times in recipes, but during a pandemic, food shortages and anxiety induced grocery store visits I don’t want to be wasting anything. So I jogged my memory and remembered this recipe from Jenna that I made a lifetime ago. I skipped the pita chips this time around and just made the dip as something nice to dip our crackers in during snack time here.  My son loves to eat it straight off a spoon! I’ve seen lots of good recipes similar to this that call for fresh rosemary, but we didn’t have any so we omitted it. I’m sure it would be a delicious addition.

Roasted Garlic White Bean Dip

Adapted from Jenna’s White Bean Dip with Pita Chips

Yield: 2-5 Servings

Ingredients:

• 1 head of garlic
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil + 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 15 oz. can cannellini beans, rinsed, and drained
• 1 lemon, juiced (around 2 Tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Slice the top off of the garlic (do not peel) and place in a cake pan. Drizzle with two tablespoons of oil making sure all of the head of garlic is covered. Roast for 30 minutes or until golden brown with the sliced top facing up.  Remove, let cool and drain oil into a small dish*.

Squeeze out cooled garlic cloves into a food processor. Add beans, cumin, salt, pepper, lemon juice and two tablespoons of olive oil. Process until smooth.

*Notes/Tips

You can add the additional excess oil from roasting the garlic to the food processor with all of the other ingredients or save it to dip some bread in.

I ended up adding a couple more pinches of Kosher Salt to the dip adjusting seasoning to taste.

Enjoy with pita chips, crackers, veggies, or whatever you’d like. I like to add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to the dip before serving.