Try this vegan, gluten-free white bean dip made with delicious garlic confit and topped with perfectly-cooked rapini. Let me start by saying that this is one of my favourite recipes. I love it because it’s both complex and straightforward at the same time. The flavours are vibrant and complex, but the preparation is pretty simple. It doesn’t require a ton of technical ability, just a food processor and lots of garlic.
You start by adding garlic, chilli pepper and olive oil to a saucepan, and while that cooks, you can begin to prep your rapini.
The recipe will make a larger portion of garlic confit, which you can keep in your refrigerator and enjoy for days to come.
Blanching
Blanching vegetables can remove bitterness, brighten colour, and help to achieve near-perfect results. The process involves cooking vegetables in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes. It’s usually followed by an ice bath or cool water rinse to shock the vegetables to stop cooking and maintain their bright colour.
While it’s not a necessary step, I recommend it, especially for dark bitter greens like rapini.
White Bean and Garlic Confit Dip with Rapini
Equipment
- 1 Food processor
Ingredients
Garlic confit
- 2 heads of garlic cloves peeled
- 2 cups olive oil
- 2 chilli peppers optional
Rapini
- 1 bunch rapini washed
- 1 garlic clove roughly chopped
- 3 tbsp garlic confit oil
- salt and pepper to taste
White bean dip
- 2 cups cannellini beans cooked and drained
- juice of half a lemon
- zest of one lemon
- 5 garlic confit cloves
- 5 tbsp garlic confit oil
- pinch fresh parsley roughly chopped
- 1 chilli from garlic confit optional
Instructions
Garlic confit
- Combine garlic, olive oil and chilli pepper in a small saucepan and simmer over low heat until the garlic is tender, about 20 minutes.
- Let the confit cool and transfer to a mason jar. You'll use about one third for this recipe, reserve the remaining amount in the refrigerator.*
Rapini
- Submerge rapini in a large saucepan of salted boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes to blanch. Drain and rinse with freezing cold water to shock the rapini and maintain its vibrant colour. Squeeze out excess water and chop rapini into two inch pieces.
- In a large skillet, brown raw garlic in garlic confit oil. Add blanched rapini over medium heat and toss for 3 to 5 minutes.
White bean dip
- In a food processor, pulse the cannellini beans, garlic confit cloves and oil, lemon juice and zest, parsley, salt, and pepper until combined.
