Welcome to my series on dips and meze! I’ll be presenting three recipes that are great for Ramadan or any time. Meze, or mezze, means small dishes served as appetizers across the Levant and parts of Europe. Check out my previous two recipes!
Ingredients
- 2-4 fennel bulbs (cut in even wedges)
- 1 large shallot
- 4 cloves garlic
- Salt and black pepper
- A drizzle of olive oil
- 1 can 15.5 ounces white northern beans (drained and rinsed )
- 2 tbs. Lemon juice
- 1 tbs. Olive oil
- 1 ice cube
- Toppings: Fresh dill, fried pine nuts and olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper place the fennel wedges, peeled shallots and cloves of garlic in their skin. Drizzle with olive oil enough to be coated and sprinkle with salt and black pepper so every piece gets some love.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until the fennel is fragrant and golden. Let cool for 15 minutes.
- In a food processor add the white beans, about 2 roasted 2-4 fennel bulbs, shallots and squeeze out the garlic cloves from the skin, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice (start with 1 tbs. depending on your taste you can always add more) Process until smooth.
- Taste for salt and adjust your seasoning, add 1 tbs. Olive oil and 1 ice cube and process (the ice cube will help in a smoother consistency).
- The dip is ready, top with fried pine nuts, dill and olive oil.
- Arrange the rest of the roasted fennel in a platter and drizzle with the pan juices.
- I like to eat the dip and roasted fennel next to each other, but remember the dip is amazing on its own if you don’t want to roast extra fennel, enjoy.
- Would you like to see the recipes in Arabic too.