Recipe: Cannellini white bean dip

| by Bel | 2.08pm NZ time |

Something unprecedented happened yesterday. I was asked for my recipe. Yes! A person wanted to replicate a food item which I had created.

*waits for murmuring hubbub to die down*

I know, folks, I was as shocked as you. And immeasurably pleased. I wish I could have told my coworker that it was a family secret passed down through the ages, or a special something I'd craftily whipped up, but in actual fact I'd just googled the thing we had two cans left of in the cupboard.

And VOILA! Taste sensation.

It's a cannellini (white bean) dip with Italian parsley. If you have ever made dips yourself, then you'll know that it's friggin easy but please don't go round telling everyone because I need to be able to impress people with SOMETHING.

I had two cans of cannellini in the cupboard because a) they are pretty cheap and b) I can use them to make salady type things that no one else in my family touch and therefore I get it ALL TO MYSELF.

I googled 'cannellini' and discovered they are also known as 'white beans' which has to be one of the most literal and unimaginative names ever. Some recipes called for roasting a capsicum (AS IF!!) or steaming spinach (WHATEVS!!). Then I struck one which merely requiring chopping up some Italian parsley, which grows plentifully in our unattended garden.

You can find the original recipe on the Food Network website, where it was devised by someone called Giada De Laurentiis. Apparently she is a famous TV chef.

Or maybe an axe murderer? Or a witch who gains strength from bathing in blood?? That certainly doesn't look like hygienic kitchen practice to me.

Her recipe is quite specific but my technique is looser:

Ingredients

• 1x can of cannellini beans (for 2x ramekins of dip, or 2x cans for a big bowl)
• a couple cloves of garlic
• salt and pepper
• a bunch of Italian parsley
• olive oil

Method

1. Chop the parsley and the garlic.
2. Put everything in a bowl.
3. Add some oil so that it is easy to stir*.
4. Then whizz stick** the crap outta it.
5. THE END.

Here's my final version, as part of the spread my team made for the social club shared lunch celebrating winter solstice:

*I saw that many of the 287 comments on Giada's recipe were people irate about the excessive quantity of olive oil she'd recommended. This is why I never bother too much with following directions exactly. Also: I am lazy.

**This was the most time consuming part of a very short and quick process. Friggin whizz stick getting gummied up every two seconds!! Guess who bought a food processor off Trade Me the very next day. (Answer: me.)