Beet Dip

"Dip" is a funny word because, really, does it make you hungry? It connotes a drop in the road or a dippy person. It's also kind of retro. "How about some chips and dip," says a mom on a black-and-white TV show from the past, doesn't matter which one. Oh: it also connotes chewing tobacco which my college roommate used to spit into a cup. He'd leave the cup around our dorm room and every so often I'd glance into it and want to puke. So dip, yeah. It's not the sexiest food word.

But dip--as in a mixture of wet and dry ingredients for you to scoop up with chips or bread or carrots or whatever--is actually pretty wonderful. It just has a bad name. I dare you to put out homemade potato chips and a bowl of Ina Garten's French Onion dip and NOT have it disappear in 14 seconds. It's an impossible proposition.

Today's dip is a bit healthier than that. It comes from Ottolenghi's Jerusalem and it's basically roasted beets that you blend up with whole-fat yogurt, garlic and chile. Here it is before blending:

And here it is after:

As you can see, it produces a pretty vivid color.

A note on the roasting of the beets: Ottolenghi has you pop scrubbed beets directly into a hot oven in a roasting pan. No foil, no nothing. I found this process to be frustrating for a few reasons: 1. the beets took longer to cook; 2. the beet skin started to char and fuse with the bottom of my roasting pan; 3. the skins were harder to peel off than when you cook beets in foil packets. So, next time I make this dip, I'm doing the foil packet technique as demonstrated here.

Otherwise, the recipe's really a cinch. Once blended, you stir in date syrup (which I found at the Indian supermarket across the street), olive oil, za'atar and salt.

Scoop into your serving bowl and top with green onions, toasted hazelnuts and crumbled goat's cheese.

It's a colorful and surprising way to start a meal with some bread or toasted pita. Just don't spit it into a cup and leave it around your dorm room. That would be really weird.

Recipe: Beet Dip

Summary: From Ottolenghi's Jerusalem.

Ingredients

• 1 pound of red beets
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 small red chile, seeded and finely chopped
• Rounded 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons date syrup (if you can't find it, use maple syrup)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra to finish the dish
• 1 tablespoon za'atar
• Salt
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons toasted hazelnuts, coarsely crushed
• 2 ounces soft goat's milk cheese, crumbled

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. If you want to roast the beets the Ottolenghi way, wash them and place in a roasting pan. Put into the oven and cook, uncovered, until a knife slides easily into the center, about an hour. Me? I'd put the beets in foil packets of 3 each, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, close them up and roast them on a cookie sheet for the same amount of time. I find that easier.
3. When the beets are cool enough to handle, rub them with paper towels to remove the skins. Cut each beet into 6 pieces.
4. Place the beets, garlic, chile and yogurt in a food processor and blend to a smooth paste. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and stir in the date syrup, olive oil, za'atar and salt to taste. (You'll want to adjust it for sweetness and salt.)
5. Transfer the mixture to a serving bowl and scatter with the onions, hazelnuts, cheese and a final drizzle of olive oil. Serve with torn bread or pita bread.

Preparation time: 20 minute(s)

Cooking time: 1 hour(s)

Number of servings (yield): 6