White Bean Dip With Rosemary Olive Oil

Photo Courtesy of Dave McCoy Photography

No time to waste this week! We are taking off on Tuesday for our annual two-week trip to Maui so I needed to get right on the cooking train. We met my in-laws for a beautiful brunch at Salty's on Alki this morning so we knew we wouldn't be super hungry tonight. By the way, for those of you that aren't Seattleites, Salty's is a restaurant located over the water in West Seattle that looks directly across the sound at the Seattle skyline. Not only is the view one of the best in Seattle, the food is incredible. Brad and I are frequent flyers at Salty's because it never disappoints. I am digressing from the task at hand because I want to mention that I had the best Bloody Mary of my life during brunch today. Salty's offers a build-your-own Bloody Mary bar and boy did I build one! First of all, I chose bacon infused vodka. I know it sounds strange, but bacon with bloody mary fixings just couldn't be bad. Next, I went to the Bloody Mary bar and chose their horseradish mix. Then I added two bleu cheese stuffed olives, two pimento olives, salami rolled around a cornichon (small pickle), extra horseradish and a splash of Worcestershire Sauce. Ridiculously good! I, of course, had to snap a photo of the build-your-own Bloody Mary bar. They thought of every option a person could possibly want as a Bloody Mary accoutrement. Check out the photo below.

Okay, back to the White Bean Dip With Rosemary Olive Oil. This was actually a perfect dip for pita chips. The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil, divided

2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

2 cans white beans (Canellini or Great Northern), drained and rinsed

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 tsp kosher salt

3 sprigs fresh rosemary, rinsed

1. In a 10-inch frying pan over medium heat, stir half the olive oil and the 2 cloves garlic until fragrant, being careful not to brown garlic, about 1 minute. Pour the oil and garlic into a food processor. Wipe out the pan and set aside.

• 2. Add white beans, lemon juice, and salt to the food processor and whirl until smooth. Pour into a serving bowl.
• 3. Return the frying pan to medium heat and add the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and the rosemary sprigs. Warm the rosemary in the olive oil until fragrant, about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally so the rosemary doesn't burn. Remove from heat and let cool 10 minutes.
• 4. Set the rosemary aside and drizzle the olive oil over the bean dip. Mince one teaspoon of the rosemary leaves and sprinkle over the dip.

The McCoys were over for dinner tonight and we all agreed that the dip is delicious but we would use 1 1/2 tsp of kosher salt instead of 2 tsp. The consistency of the dip was perfection but the most special part of the recipe is the rosemary infused olive oil. As I tasted it, I had an epiphany that I should infuse olive oil with herbs more often. It only takes about ten minutes to infuse herb flavor into oil so I really have no excuse moving forward. I would definitely make this dip as an hors d'oeuvre for a dinner party. Viva La White Bean Dip!