Roasted Fennel and White Bean Dip

Last year when I visited my mom in Minneapolis, we planned a dinner party and I proposed several options for each course. This dip, from Food 52 was overlooked then, but I’m so glad we attempted it this time!! It’s time consuming but simple to make, and SO delicious!!

Tangent: Food 52 is one of my other food website loves – every week gourmet home chefs submit original recipes in response to a challenge, such as “heirloom tomatoes” or “bag lunch”. The recipes are reviewed and winners are chosen, leaving us followers with amazing innovative recipes. I always look there first when I want a new take on a standard, such as green bean casserole or pumpkin pie.

Back to the dip: We followed the recipe fairly closely, aside from reducing the amount of olive oil and cheese it called for by about one third, and it was still plenty creamy!

I would also suggest making sure you use enough fennel – we used just one medium-sized bulb and the taste barely came through. Next time (and there will almost certainly be a next time!) I will use at least 2 bulbs.