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You've probably heard that butter makes everything taste better. Well, garlic is the other ingredient that makes everything taste better. Except possibly chocolate cake. No garlic in chocolate cake! That should be the first rule of baking.
However, I'm not writing about chocolate cake. It's not that I don't like cake. If anything, I like cake a bit too much. Cake will be the focus of a future post, I promise. This post is about a bean dip that got lots of mmm...so yummy reviews from friends and family. Beans and garlic go well together. Bean loves garlic. Garlic loves bean. |
Speaking of garlic, apparently garlic, also called the "stinking rose" for reason I don't need to explain, has been shown to have beneficial effects on heart disease, cancer, and infectious diseases. One thing to keep in mind is that minced or crushed garlic has a stronger flavor than whole garlic.
So here's the recipe. This is as simple as cooking can get. Feel free to change the quantities according to the number of guests you expect or to their appetities. A good cook tastes the food while making it so I suggest you keep a tasting spoon by your side when cooking. Take a small quantity of the food you are cooking using the cooking spoon and place that food on the tasting spoon. Repeat as necassary. It is easier to add salt, pepper, spices, etc than it is to take out so start tasting the food early on in the process.
Ingredients:
2 15 ounce cans pinto beans, rinsed
About 1/3 cup olive oil
Salt to taste
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Method:
Place the beans in a pot and add sufficient water to cover them. Bring to a boil then let cook for about 20 minutes. Drain the beans and allow a few minutes to cool. Mash the beans with a fork. Use a blender if you want but in my opinion mashing with a fork is easy enough. Add the olive oil in several batches. Mix it well to allow the beans to absorb the oil. Using a garlic press, crush the garlic and add to the mix. Add salt to taste. Serve with bread.
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