Jeannie's Ozzie Beet Dip

Lucky me, my family and I got to visit my famiy in Sydney for Christmas! We’ve never been to Australia before, so it’s been reason for much excitement. And while the weather has been unseasonably crappy, the company has been awesome. When you don’t have any family where you live you really miss the excessive & noisy communal meals, reminiscing about the good, old days and all those repeated cheesey, bad jokes. :-)

Last night the sun finally popped its head out and we sat on the deck having a drink. My sister-in-law, Jeannie, whipped up this yumminess to go with our ice-clinking ginger-mint cocktails. The Ozzie’s are big beet fans – they are even notorious for eating them on burgers – so as a fellow beet fan, I am in heaven. This little dip is a quickie to make, super healthy and, for those of you who don’t do meat, it’s vegetarian.

Here’s what you’ll need: (Note we forgot to put the feta is this pic)

JEANNIE’S OZZIE BEET DIP:

1 can of beets (drained) – apparently you can use roasted beets for this too.

75g feta (about a third of a 200g block)

1/2 a lemon (squeezed)

2 tablespoons of Tahini

2 tablespoons of Olive Oil (If you use roasted beets you may need more liquid here)

1 tablespoon Dukkah (Egyptian mix of herbs, spice, nuts & seeds)

1/2 clove of garlic – or 1 whole small clove

Small bunch of mint (a few sprigs – see pic for amount)

Freshly ground Salt & Pepper

Ah, here’s that missing feta…

Simply pop everything into the blender, whizz it up till smooth, and, as Jeannie says: “Voila!”

Sprinkle with a little more Dukkah and serve with some tasty crackers. The garlic and tahini give it a lovely richness to go with the fresh, minty and sweet, beet flavours. The texture is creamy and the intense pink colour looks simply divine on an appie table. We served it with seaweed rice crackers, but anything salty, crunchy and tasty will do. My best thing about this recipe is the speed at which you can whip it up. Great for those unexpected visitors at this time of year.

Quick side note on Dukkah: This is a great thing to keep in yout fridge. You can either buy it premixed in a deli that sells Middle Eastern ingredients or you can make it yourself. Just Google “Dukkah” for a million recipes. The Egyptians often serve it with pita bread dipped in olive oil alongside a salad for lunch. Since the nuts and seeds are roasted it should be kept in the fridge.

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