It’s funny, I usually try to post recipes that go well with the season I’m in, but I keep forgeting I live in Calgary and weather is unpredictable. My wife keeps telling me that there are no four seasons here but she is definitely mistaken, last week we actually had all of them. Sunday was a great summer day, perfect temperature for anything you might think of doing, Monday we had a bit of fall with cloudy sky and rain but I never thought I will get to winter anytime soon. We did.
Tuesday and Wednesday snow came and blessed us with about one foot of cold white… thank you very much! It was then when we decided is time to swap the province, but that’s another story. I kept thinking about global warming and polar bears running out of ice until I got extremely confused. Anyway, for the past two-three days it’s been spring again and everybody is happy they still have a few BBQ days left. In the end, I won the argument (with wife), there are four seasons in Alberta, only on a compressed timeframe.
Now take this recipe, in Romania it is more of a winter dish though I have no idea why, maybe because of the beans… which is kind of weird if you ask me, I would rather eat in the summer when is hot and I can keep windows open, but whatever. I’m thinking, people there might know something I don’t so I jumped into my car at the first sign of snow flakes and went to the grocery store where I bought a couple of cannellini cans to get my dip/spread going.
If you’re thinking hummus, forget it. This thing has garlic and onions and whatever else you might want to add and I like it better anyway. My sister uses a carrot and a celery root as well but I kept things simple. Also I found out you can also mix some charamelized onions with a bit of tomato paste and pour it on top of your dip but I never had any made like this before and I did not want to ruin my mood. One last thing, make sure everbody in your household has some of this dip/spread and make sure you don’t have to go to work or anywhere for that matter, because your breath, it just became a lethal weapon. Enjoy!
- 2 can 15 oz each (425g) Cannellini beans
- 5-6 garlic cloves
- 1 big onion
- 1 tsp paprika (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1-2 tbsp vegetable oil
- I used precooked canned cannellini beans; they need to be drained and you also need to save the juice/liquid thing.
- I like my dip smooth so I used a blender to mix everything together and give it a nice consistency. Mix beans with one tbsp of vegetable oil, garlic cloves,salt and pepper and give it a serious swirl. You control the desired consistency by adding the reserved liquid from cans, or plain water.
- Chop onion as small as you like then add vegetable oil to a pan and caramelize it until is dark brown. I like it a bit burnt but it is a matter of choice. Also one minute before is done, you can add a tsp of paprika and mix it with the onion but this is totally optional (I forgot about it lol).
- Serve topped up with caramelized onion.
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