Garlic Scape Bean Dip

Image courtesy of Creative Commons 

Today in the kitchen we whipped up a batch of this garlic scapes bean dip. The staff and volunteers here at Our Greener Village Community Food Centre stepped up to their secondary jobs as "official taste tasters" for all things that came out of the kitchen. This dip passed with flying colours and it's definitely a kitchen keeper.

The original recipe came from the New York Times but we tweaked it a bit. Here's our version of Garlic Scapes Bean Dip.

Need to know what a garlic scape is? Check out our "Know Your Ingredients" column on the subject.


Ingredients: 

• 1/3 cup sliced garlic scapes (3 to 4) 
• zest of one lemon, very finely grated or minced.
• 1 Tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice (the bottled juice is kind of flat in this recipe) 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• pinch ground black pepper 
• pinch red cayenne pepper OR a couple of shakes of Tabasco or other hot sauce 
• 2 cups of white beans, cooked until very soft OR 1-15 oz (398 ml) can white or cannelli beans rinsed and drained
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2-3 Tablespoons water (as needed) 

Directions: 

1. In a food processor, process garlic scapes with lemon juice, salt, pepper, lemon zest and hot sauce until finely chopped.

2. Add beans and process until it's a rough puree. 

3. With the motor running, slowly drizzle oil through the feed tube and process until smooth. Add 2 or 3 tablespoons of water until you have a nice dip consistency. 

4. Check seasons and adjust to taste.