America's Heartland

Sharon: One of the more classic ways to use beans is by making a hummus.

And today we're going to riff on that by making a white bean dip that doesn't use chickpeas and instead uses another very humble bean, the cannellini bean, also known as a white kidney bean.

For this recipe, you only need a few simple ingredients and a food processor.

So let's make it happen.

We'll put one can of cannellini beans into the food processor.

Whenever you're using canned beans, they of course, come packed in a liquid that includes some salt.

So I already went ahead and rinsed these beans for this recipe.

You can also use dried beans and soak them overnight, and then cook them before making this recipe.

Into the food processor, I'm adding four tablespoons of pine nuts.

This is five, so I'm going to save one tablespoon for finishing the recipe later.

Now we will also add two minced or microplaned garlic cloves.

Then we'll add half a teaspoon of cumin.

This gives it a nice smoky flavor just a little bit.

And the zest of and the juice of one whole lemon.

Now the lemon is important here because it adds that acid that will need to balance out the very buttery flavor of the beans.

And the other important thing about the lemon that it does is it also increases the shelf life of this dish.

And then the last reason we need lemon is that it is a liquid that helps this turn into a dip.

We'll also add a couple tablespoons of olive oil, half a teaspoon of salt, and a few grinds of pepper.

Let's put this on top and take it for a spin.

We want this to be nice and smooth.

It should be dippable with either crackers or some veggies.

But let's also taste it.

Mmmm... almost perfect.

A little more salt.

[Food processor grinds] If you find that it's too thick and your food processor is struggling to blend it, one thing you can do is just add a little bit of water, maybe a tablespoon at a time until it gets the consistency you want.

But as you can see here, we're at the exact right consistency.

So I'm going to transfer this to a bowl.

And then we'll finish it up.

Our white bean dip is almost ready to be served.

But first we're going to make a spicy garlic oil.

Here's how you do it.

Heat two tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat.

Then add two minced garlic cloves and one teaspoon of chili flakes.

Let that sizzle for about a minute, being careful not to brown the garlic.

The hot oil will keep cooking it even when the heat turns off.

Take it off the heat and add a tablespoon of minced partially zest of one lemon and a pinch of salt.

That's it.

The spicy garlic oil is a perfect topping to this bean dip, but is also lovely with a fresh baguette.

Now we'll just spoon a little bit of this garlic oil right on top.

Look how pretty that is.

Like this dish was not done until this came along.

Right on top.

Those extra pine nuts that we saved.

Beautiful.

Just a handful of ingredients and maybe 15 minutes.

And you have your own homemade white bean dip.

Now, all that's left to do is eat.