Sunday, March 19, 2006

White Bean Dip and Baked Wonton Chips


I love it when experiments work, don't you? We had dinner guests coming last night, and I wanted to have something snacky and crunchy out for them when they arrived. However, I was serving some very rich lasagna rolls (see below) and therefore wanted to avoid inducing cardiac arrest in my guests.

And so, on a whim, I tried making some baked wonton chips and white bean dip. The chips were incredibly easy, as you see, and the dip tasted creamy but only had a little drizzle of oil. Even better, I got to use some herbs from my garden, making this the perfect submission for Weekend Herb Blogging.


White Bean Dip and Baked Wonton Chips

for the dip:

1 14-oz can cannelini beans, drained
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
a few sprigs of whatever herbs you have on hand. I used:
-lemon balm
-mint
-thyme
-rosemary
coarse salt and pepper
juice of half a lemon
1 Tbsp chives, for garnish


Place everything but the chives in a blender (or a food processor, but I don't have one. Wah), and pulse until smooth and creamy. Top with chopped chives and serve with baked wonton chips.


for the chips:

half a package of prepared wonton wrappers
olive oil cooking spray
sea salt


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the wonton wrappers in half and lay them out in a single layer. Spray with a coat of cooking spray and sprinkle lightly with the sea salt. Bake for 5 minutes, until golden brown and crunchy.



P.S. Yes, we have some new plants in the garden, and the radishes have made their way into the ground. Garden update to come once the sun decides to shine, maybe tomorrow?

8 comments:

Kalyn Denny said...

I can tell you are just a great cook by the way you know how to improvise. This sounds wonderful. I like the idea of baking the wonton skins too.

Marianne said...

That means a lot, Kalyn. I thought of you when I made this, actually, it is a very healthy snack. Thanks!

Ed Tep said...

I've always wanted to try making a white bean dip. Thanks for sharing your recipe. And the baked wontons are ingenious!

Passionate Eater said...

Wow, smooth and creamy looking dip! How did you do that without a food processor?

Marianne said...

PE--I have a very nice blender and more patience than I thought. I would pulse a few times, scrape down the sides and mix with a small rubber spatula, and repeat. It didn't take all that long, but I was amazed that it acutally ended up completely smooth.

I have recently been told that a food processor is in my future, though! So hopefully I won't have to stress quite as much in the future.

Passionate Eater said...

Okay, that explains it! When I first moved to SF, I made a recipe that called for "processed" bread (to make fresh bread crumbs), but I didn't have a food processor OR blender. I used a knife and a cutting board! I felt like Fred Flintstone as I was making the dish. Needless to say, the final results had some large chunks of unprocessed bread.

Marianne said...

PE--next time you need bread crumbs, it works really well to freeze a chunk of bread briefly (to firm it up), then use a grater. Perfect breadcrumbs every time!

Anonymous said...

Dear Stranger, After typing in a Google search for dip wonton chips", I found your white bean dip recipe. How wonderfully simple and delicious! Thanks for sharing - TC