About a week ago when it was really snowing here, Tom and I went to a friend's house down the street for dinner, to try and escape the cabin fever that snow in this city causes. Before dinner, my friend Monica pulled out a store-bought white bean dip that was amazing, and looked simple enough to make, so I tried it today with excellent results.
You'll need a food processor, two cans of canellini beans, a bunch of cilantro, and a jalepeno. Open and drain the beans, and rinse them. Your mileage may vary, but I am not a fan of the nasty water-and-preservative mix inside most canned beans, so I rinse mine until they don't foam anymore. Put the beans into the food processor, and slice the jalepeno into chunks - nothing fancy, I just cut mine into about four pieces across the pepper - and toss that in as well. I used half of a large bunch of cilantro, rinsed well to get the dirt out, and tore that up into the mix, then added enough olive oil through the top of the Cuisinart to help the blade emulsify everything.
Add spice to taste; cumin, chili powder or cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper should do it. I also tossed in a few shakes of a product called Pico Limon, which is a Mexican spice mixture with some dried citrus added. You'll wind up with something that looks vaguely like pesto:
It took me about 10 or so minutes to make, and is a pretty close substitute for the store bought stuff. In the future if I have more time to make it, I might cut up and sautee' another jalepeno or even a serrano and put the chunks into the mixture, then let it sit overnight for a little extra texture and flavor. Or maybe even a few scallions or half a yellow or red onion diced up raw might be nice. Enjoy!
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