Red Pepper & Butterbean Dip
Serves 2-4 for nibbles
Ingredients
2 tins of butterbeans
450g roasted red peppers from a jar
Lemon juice, at least 1 lemon, more to taste
Extra virgin olive oil, 4 tbsp, or to taste
Sea salt, a good pinch
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
I buy frozen cubes of garlic (available from most supermarkets) to use in lots of recipes. They are just garlic, no additives and make recipes like these a lot easier. You can simply defrost as much as you need.
Method
This recipe is ridiculously easy using a food processor but can also be made by hand. If you want to make it by hand, start by chopping up the peppers very finely and then add the beans to the bowl, mash with a fork until all the beans are broken down. Then add the olive oil, crushed garlic, liquid from pepper jar and lemon juice, it will become easier to mash and mix, keep going until you have a texture that you like. It won't be as smooth as the food processor version but probably more satisfying knowing the arm power that has gone into it!
In the food processor, add all the ingredients, including the liquid from the pepper jar and blitz.
Now, remove the lid and taste the dip. You may need more lemon, a little more salt or even a splash more olive oil.
It will have a lovely sweetness along with some acidity from the lemon and a nice garlicky flavour too. I like this dip really smooth but it is also good with a rough texture, so make it as you like.
It goes really well with crudites, cheese straws, crackers and toasted pitta bread.