Turkish Nut Dip
My affection for dips runs deep. I am pretty sure that it is directly related to my love of condiments. Give me a sauce, relish, chutney, puree and I will pretty much dip cardboard into it to transfer from bowl to mouth. Fortunately, with the existence of a wide variety of crackers, chips and flatbreads cardboard isn’t necessary and this Turkish Nut Dip goes well with all of the above.
This recipe is the first that I made from America’s Test Kitchen “The Best Mediterranean Recipes” which my sister so kindly gifted to me this summer. The single topic publication is one of many printed by the editors of Cook’s Illustrated. If you are not familiar with Cook’s Illustrated, congratulations, you are not a food geek like me and my siblings. Cook’s Illustrated is known for their scientific approach to cooking and their testing and retesting of recipes with slight variations on variables such as cooking time, ingredient amounts and even specific brands of let’s say olive oil or fire-roasted tomatoes. Consider it the Consumer Reports of cooking (which by the way is another publication with which my family is fully obsessed).
I followed the recipe using almonds but the author claims that the dips works equally well with walnuts, hazelnuts or pine nuts as long as the nuts are skinless and toasted, which is essential. This Turkish Nut Dip can stand on it’s own but would also be a welcome addition to a meze platter of hummus, baba ganoush, stuffed grape leaves, olives, and the list goes on. Enjoy!
Turkish Nut Dip
- 1 slice hearty white sandwich bread, crusts removed, torn into 1-inch pieces*
- 3/4 c water, plus extra as needed
- 1 c blanched almonds, blanched hazelnuts, pine nuts or walnuts, toasted
- 1/4 c extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 Tbls lemon juice, plus extra as needed
- 1 small garlic clove, minced
- salt and pepper
- pinch cayenne pepper
- Using a fork, mash bread and water together in a bowl to form a paste.
- Process bread mixture, nuts, oil, lemon juice, garlic, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp pepper and cayenne in a blender until smooth, about 2 minutes.
- Add extra water if needed until the sauce is barely thicker than the consistency of heavy cream.
- Season with salt, pepper and extra lemon juice, to taste.
- Serve at room temperature.
- *America's Test Kitchen recommends Arnold Country Classics White Bread which can be found in the bread aisle of most standard supermarkets.