Sunday Gravy with yeah right: A Quickie. White Bean Dip

Good morning,

You know it’s getting close to season kick off time when all food thoughts turn to football food. I may even have another game day menu in store before this season of Sunday Gravy is over IN JUST 3 MORE WEEKS!

Of course I enjoy doing these for you good people but at the same time this shit is exhausting. It’s not even the cooking part of it, it’s more the coming up with the idea thing. I swear my brain is fried by the time I reach the end of each season. I’m also dying to not have to document every goddamn meal I cook.

No shit. There are plenty of times when I’m cooking a regular fucking meal that’s not part of Sunday Gravy and I’ll bring my phone in the kitchen to take photos.

This shit has broken my mind!

Well, further I mean.

For football food season we need dishes to serve during the games, during tailgate parties, during get togethers at your buddies houses. You know the drill.

Think about shit that can be left on the table, grabbed by the occasional passerby and consumed by hand.

Like a bong but only with food. 

How many health code violations do you think the average football food table has?

All of them?

Sorry. Maybe don’t think about that part but do indeed try to keep foods at the proper temperature. Especially as a host.

Sure we have tons of attorneys here but do you really want to reach out to them because you gave an entire houseful of your friends the shits?

I digress.

Today our recipe is simple, requires no cooking (YES!) and can be set out with a bag of tortilla chips, maybe some pita bread or pita chips and enjoyed by a crowd.

I was gonna say adding a veggie tray too but let’s be honest. How many of us serve veggie trays on game day?

Still hot out outside and still not turning the oven on when this was made so it fit the bill to a “T.”

Let’s make a quick and easy one today because we’ve got games to watch. This can also fit right into your collection of Game Day foods. Who doesn’t want a new dip recipe for football season?

White Bean Dip!

recipe inspired by loveandlemons.com

1½ cups cooked cannellini beans, drained and rinsed – use a can of beans OK?

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil. Use the good stuff, you’ll notice.

2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice

½ teaspoon lemon zest – or not your choice.

1 small garlic clove minced

½ teaspoon sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 to 4 tablespoons water, if needed – hey, it’s needed.

Optional fresh herbs include:

1/2 teaspoon of fresh thyme

Torn fresh basil leaves

2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves

Let’s get after it.

Told you we ain’t cooking today!

I’ve been fucking around with cannellini beans quite a bit over the last few years. One of my weekly vegetarian soups is Pasta Fazool so it’s a familiar ingredient.

Grab your best food processor.

This is as close to the oven as we are going to be using today. You will be using the standard blade in the processor bowl.

Drain and rinse those beans. Don’t skip this part. I know it’s easy as all hell to just dump the contents of the can in there but if you don’t rinse these, they’re almost “soapy.” Don’t ask me why!

A new player in the kitchen today. 

Fleur de Sel or sea salt.

Take it away Wiki!

“Fleur de sel is a salt that forms as a thin, delicate crust on the surface of seawater as it evaporates. Fleur de sel has been collected since ancient times (it was mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his book Natural History.) Now used as a finishing salt to flavor and garnish food. One method of gathering sea salt is to draw seawater into marsh basins or salt pans and allow the water to evaporate, leaving behind the salt that was dissolved in it.”

Now how about that “Camargue” designation? There are several types of fleur de sel.

“Harvested in southern France, Camargue salt features whiter, crisp crystals, a milder profile, and a faint violet-like aroma.”

How fortuitous is that? The whitest sea salt for the white bean dip!

To answer the obvious, “No” I did not purchase this on my recent trip to Paris. Oddly enough one of my employees was gifted this, didn’t know what to do with it then re-gifted it to me because they knew I loved to cook.

Kismet!

Let’s check it’s credentials a little further

Camargue salt is famous for its appearance.

Pure as the driven snow.

We’ll also need some olive oil.

One clove of garlic.

Smash and chop. The food processor will get after it so no need to finely mince.

Some fresh thyme.

Dump it all in the working bowl of your food processor, along with the lemon juice.

And pulse.

Scrape into a bowl, cover with some plastic wrap and refrigerate for a bit to let the flavors mingle.

Uncover and serve with pita, crudites, crostini, chips or crackers.

And serve.

Oh this is real good. Dammit! Some smoked Spanish paprika would fucking RULE in this! I’ll bet some cumin would be good too. The original idea was to serve this with some fresh toasted crostini from day old bread but I just. Couldn’t. Do it. I could not turn on the oven.

It was still damn good with the pita chips. Bet this would go great with our Charcoal chicken from a few weeks back.

Simple, cheap and a crowd pleaser. Oh shit! YOU can make this and bring it along with some pita chips to an invite!

We’re close people. Had games on all weekend. For a quarter or so per game but still.

Just a couple of weeks to go.

Today’s fun holidays: August 16th is “National Rum Day!!!”, National Roller Coaster Day, National Tell A Joke Day, AND National Bratwurst Day!”

Mix your brats and your rum responsibly.

See you all next Sunday OK?