White Bean Dip with Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Caramelized Shallots

Happy Thanksgiving! Today I'm sharing a traditional recipe for roasted brussels sprouts and an idea for the leftovers--fold chopped roasted brussels sprouts into a white bean dip with caramelized shallots, fresh herbs, bright lemon juice, and smokey bacon. Remixing leftovers gives your guests a new experience as delicious as the first. For a vegetarian take on this white bean dip, substitute pomegranate seeds for the bacon. I hope you have a wonderful holiday with friends and family! -Mallory

Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Serves 6-8
2 pounds brussels sprouts, cleaned and halved
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Toss brussels sprouts with olive oil and salt then spread them out on a half-sheet baking pan. Roast for 35-40 minutes, stirring halfway through. The edges will be crisp and the insides tender and soft. Serve with lemon juice and freshly grated parmesan cheese. 

White Bean Dip with Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Caramelized Shallots
Serves 6
1 tablespoon bacon fat or olive oil
1 shallot, skin removed and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons red wine or sherry
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 lemon, juiced
3 cups cooked white beans
1/4 cup olive oil (or white bean cooking liquid)
2 tablespoons chopped herbs (use what's around: chives, rosemary, sage, mint, etc.)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup chopped roasted brussels sprouts
1/4 cup cooked and crumbled bacon, for garnish
bread and vegetables, for serving

Heat 1 tablespoon leftover bacon fat or olive oil in a small skillet over low heat. Add the sliced sliced and slowly caramelize, about 20 minutes. Turn up the heat to medium-low and deglaze the pan with the red wine or sherry. Once the wine fully evaporates, remove from heat and let cool. Once cool, roughly chop. 

In a food processor combine garlic and lemon juice. Pulse until the garlic is chopped, add in the white beans, and continuing pulsing, streaming in the olive oil, until a smooth, but think, dip forms. Remove from the food process and transfer to a mixing bowl. Fold in chopped shallots, herbs, salt, pepper, and chopped roasted brussels sprouts. Transfer to a serving dish, top with crumbled bacon, and sere with bread and vegetables. Serve dip at room temperature or cold, refrigerating until ready to use. 

Chard Stalk Hummus

Chard leaves and stalks are wonderfully different. One soft and tender, the other crunchy and fibrous. The leaves are wholesome raw, chopped into salads or juiced, and just as easily braised and sautéed with the benefit of citrus or garlic. They are quickly delicious while the stalks need a bit more time and attention to unravel their best flavor. I enjoy the stalks pickled, roasted, steamed or sautéed into stirfry. While these methods are better than just sending them onto the compost pile, consider this chard stalk hummus as a resourceful alternative. 

The use of chard stalks as a hummus is somewhat common in mediterranean cooking. I came across the idea in Root-to-Stalk Cooking by Tara Duggan. Paula Wolfert's The Cooking of Eastern Mediterranean and Clifford Wright's Mediterranean Vegetables also provide variations, among others.

I made this dip by replacing the chickpeas in favorite hummus recipe with steamed chard stalks, heavy on the tahini and garlic. I was pleasantly awed by the texture - it perfectly captures the creaminess of hummus. I'm still rapt in the memory of the garlicky lemon flavor. This dip is pink because I used rainbow chard stalks as that's what I had on hand, but for a beige-colored dip, use swiss chard stalks.  

Chard Stalk & Tahini Dip
Makes 3 cups of hummus
3 cups chard stalks, chopped
2/3 cup tahini
1 lemon, juiced
4 cloves garlic, smashed with skins removed
1/2 teaspoon salt
olive oil and pumpkin seeds for serving

Steam the chard stalks using a steamer pot. Add about an inch of water to the base pot, bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium. Place chard in the steaming pot above and cover with a lid. Steam until the stalks are tender and soft, between 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Combine cooked chard stalks, tahini, lemon juice, garlic and salt in a food processor. Process until a thick paste forms. Add 3 tablespoons of ice water, then continue processing until the dip is smooth and creamy. Transfer to a serving dish and refrigerate until ready to use. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and pumpkin seeds. Serve with fresh pita and enjoy within a few days. -Mallory

White Bean & Ancho Chile Spread

Every year my family gets together in St. Louis to celebrate a beloved trifecta: my grandparents' anniversary, groundhog's day and my grandmother's birthday. We're not all that partial to groundhogs or weather predictions, but groundhog's day is sandwiched between the other two occasions and thus always ends up as part of the celebration. This weekend was no exception and my grandparents marked 59 years of marriage. My grandparents have been a constant source of encouragement and inspiration for me.  Early on in their marriage they took time to travel to every state in the continental U.S.A. on their Honda motorcycle. My grandmother handed-me-down the matching maroon jacket she wore through every state. It's a regular part of my wardrobe and one of those things I'd choose for a deserted island. To this day my grandparents share stories about those and other adventures, always encouraging our family to see as much of the world as we can and celebrate every day.

This food blog is an outgrowth of that encouragement, the place where I can capture the food and flavors that take me aback and remind of the friends and family that I share them with. So, in the spirit of savoring the special in every occasion, today's recipe is a fun variation of a white bean spread using a lively matchup of ingredients that work extremely well together. This spread packs a surprising depth of earthy yet subtly sweet and fruit-forward flavors. 

White Bean Ancho Spread
Makes about 2 cups spread
2 cups cooked white beans
2 dried ancho chiles
juice of one lime
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, ground
3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped 

Presoak and boil the white beans if using dried beans until they are soft and cooked through.

Prepare a pot of boiling water. Rinse the dried chiles, cut their tops off and shake out the seeds. Toast them over medium-high heat in a small skillet for 3-4 minutes, turning them often to prevent burning. The skin will become velvety and soft. Set the chiles in a small bowl, pour the boiling water over them, place a plate on top of the bowl to trap in the heat and let them sit for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes the chiles should be soft, pliable and fully rehydrated. Place the chiles and 1 ounce of their liquid in a food processor along with the cooked white beans, lime juice, olive oil, salt and cumin. Blend until smooth. Transfer to a serving dish and top with fresh cilantro. Cut and fry corn tortillas in hot oil to serve as chips. 

-Mallory

Spinach Artichoke Dip with a Brunch-Ready Quiche

A few years ago when dining at a local Italian cafe, Mark and I had a sizable amount of leftover spinach artichoke dip. Our server shared that her favorite fix for leftover spinach artichoke dip is to fold it into eggs the next morning. As you might suspect, this is unsurprisingly delicious. Now I'm always a tad thrilled to make this dip for a dinner gathering just to set aside some of the batch for an upcoming breakfast or brunch. The dip fares well in the freezer, too, so there's not necessarily the urgency to use it right away. We've adapted this to omelets, scrambled eggs and frittatas, but our personal favorite is quiche, especially if we are hosting out of town guests.

You can stumble upon many enjoyable recipes for spinach artichoke, but I'm a hearty proponent of making a roux of flour and butter and turning it into a cheese sauce using a smoked cheese, like smoked gouda. 

6 tablespoons butter, divided
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
10 ounces fresh spinach
2 14-ounce cans artichokes, drained and chopped
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt 
2 cups milk
8 ounces cream cheese, softened and divided into 8 smaller pieces
1 cup smoked gouda, grated
1/2 cup parmesan, grated

Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. 

Melt 3 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.  Add fresh spinach and let it cook down, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Remove the spinach from heat and drain the liquid, squeezing out as much as possible, then set aside. Heat artichokes over medium heat for 2 minutes, then set aside with the spinach.

Use the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter for the roux; substitute lard or bacon fat if you have it on hand. In a medium-sized saucepan, heat the fat over medium heat then add flour, stirring continuously as the roux begins to change in color and texture, 2-3 minutes. Add salt then stir in milk, making sure to break up any clumps of flour. Add in cream cheese and smoked gouda, stirring until the cheese sauce is smooth. Remove from heat and stir in spinach and artichokes. 

Grease a 9x9 inch or similarly sized baking dish. Pour the dip into the baking dish and top with grated parmesan cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes. Serve hot with sliced vegetables, bread and/or tortilla chips. Reserve a cup and a half of the dip for an upcoming quiche.

Ready for the quiche? The crust takes the most preparation, so if you're short on time you can swap in a pre-made crust. 

Quiche Crust
Makes 1 bottom crust
4 ounces butter (1 stick), chilled
3/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar 
2-4 ounces ice water

Cut the butter into small pieces then set it in the freezer to chill for 10 minutes. Combine salt and flour. Cut in the cold butter using a pastry cutter or your hands. Crumble the butter into the flour until any remaining pieces are the size of small peas. The flour will look more like cornmeal or polenta at this point. Add the vinegar and 2 ounces of ice water. Combine with a spatula until a dough forms. Add more ice water as needed, one tablespoon at a time. Shape the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and set chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Roll out the pie dough on a floured surface and place in a buttered pie dish. Line the inside of the pie with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dry beans. Blind bake the crust for 15 minutes. Remove the pie weights or dry beans, then bake for an additional 5 minutes. Set aside to cool and prepare the filling. 

Quiche Filling
Makes 1 quiche
1 1/2 cups spinach artichoke dip
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
3 eggs

Stir together spinach artichoke dip, cayenne and heavy cream in a medium-sized bowl. Whisk eggs in a separate bowl then add to quiche filling. Stir until well incorporated then pour into the cooled pie crust.

Bake for 35 minutes until the sides of the quiche are set, but the middle still slightly jiggles. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before slicing. 

-Mallory