White Bean & Chorizo Dip

Here’s the thing about cooking…

– most of the time, unless you are trying de-bone something or make brownies (the Holy Grail for me…), it really is so dead easy to make people think you’ve been slaving away all day, when in actual fact, what you are really doing is a rapid 20-minute assembly while listening to “All Things Considered” or “The Power Vertical Podcast” (give them 45 minutes once a week and you will be frighteningly up to speed on what is going on in Russia.)

This hearty white bean dip from Ali Barlow, founder of “The Edible Vineyard,” is a good example of this domestic slight of hand. Everyone goes ballistic when I set it out and there they are the next day, up at dawn e-mailing me for the recipe. I’m ashamed in a way that it is so very simple and requires almost no special culinary skill set. If you lose the chorizo, you can’t really even call it “cooking.”

But don’t lose the chorizo, unless you are an impressively committed vegetarian like my nieces, Julia and Claire, or a Vegan like my friend Dee-Dee. The chorizo and white beans are an amazing combination and elevate this dip into a hearty sandwich spread. I always hope there will be some left over from a dinner party, but there almost never is.

So, try it. Serve it with pita bread, flatbread crackers or carrot and celery sticks. Pair it with complimentary starters: Eggplant, Pepper, and Pomegranate Spread or Avocado & Sumac Whip. I dare you to each just one mouthful!

Ingredients

105 ml (7 Tbl) olive oil
100 gm (4 oz) chorizo sausage
2 tins white cannellini beans
60 ml (4 Tbl) freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 cloves garlic (coarsely chopped)
125 ml (1/2-cup) flat Italian parsley (finely chopped )
1 pinch good quality sea salt
1 pinch freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Place all of the other ingredients into a food processor fitted with a steel blade (if you are throwing nutritional caution to the wind, you can add the grease from the chorizo) and process until the mixture is coarsely combined. There should be lumps.

Transfer to a decorative serving dish and sprinkle the chorizo on top.

Best served at room temperatures with toasted pita triangles, a crusty baguette or crudités.

Notes:

Recipe credit: Ali Barlow of The Edible Vineyard

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So, Readers,

Do you have a culinary trick up your sleeve? Something that seems complex and is really a piece of cake — well not a piece of cake because of course cakes are dead difficult. But you know what I mean, don’t you? What’s your “Assemble in 20 minutes” recipe?

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White Bean & Chorizo Dip