(new mugs by Gary Rith)
I know, elephants on parade, right? Who doesn't love THAT? I always think of the nasty, brutish and short things in the world (like the Giants beating the Royals to win the Series) need to be balanced, nay, OVERCOME by the cute and sweet or beautiful. It can be a terrible world, but we can make people smile if we try....
OK, hummus! People buy hummus and it is not neccessarily cheap. I know someone who wanted to open a farmer's market hummus business, selling a little tub for five bucks each, and I was thinking "but hummus is so easy to make, why would anyone BOTHER? I mean, a can of chickpeas is only 88 cents!".
But people DO bother! To spend money that is. At its most simple, hummus is a spread or dip made of cooked chickpeas (and you BETTER cook them, or everyone is gonna fart all over town...) with some olive oil and spice blended together, usually with lemon juice and garlic, maybe some tahini tossed in. Then to get fancier, you chop up some olives or basil leaves or whatever and stir it into the finished dip.
I remember having a sandwich on NY's second avenue with my sister-in-law back in 97...it was called California hummus and had jalapenos and lime juice and it was AWESOME. So make your own with jalapenos and lime juice, right? Or anything at all...
I like Mark Bittman's NY Times recipe for sundried tomato hummus quite a bit. (click here for recipe)
What I do is boil a can of chickpeas with some sundried tomatoes about 20 minutes, save a little of the water, then blenderize the chickpea-tomato mix with juice of one lemon, a spoonful each of: garlic, tahini, olive oil, other spices and some of the cooking water to make it smooth, huzzah! Done! Costs about a dollar or two to make quite a lot...seen here with a loaf of GF bread I made....but WAIT! Once you have some for lunch on bread, maybe you'd like to have the rest for a fun dinner: hummus pasta!
Mushroom-pepper hummus pasta!
-boil 8 oz pasta per usual
-dice 4 oz mushrooms, half an onion and a small bell pepper, saute in olive oil
-once veggies are soft, mix in 8 oz hummus plus a little water to make a nice sauce, plus spices
-stir together with pasta, can top with: olives (I love olives on ANYTHING), sliced tomato, sesame seeds, etc....
w.JPG)
7 comments:
At least your elephants don't have to hold the tail of the one in front of them in their trunks.
Once I started making my own hummus I couldn't believe that I ever paid $4 for a small a container! Jeff and I love it with garlic and sundried tomatoes. If I use canned chick peas I don't boil, just use straight from the can. But you have me curious about your "farting all over town" comment... does boiling the canned help with that issue? If so, I want to pass that tip along to my sister :-).
YES, boil them, straight from the can is TROUBLE!
Love the parading elephants.
I went through a hummus stage where I ate it daily…then I got over it. Never made it myself, so I suppose I'm a lazy azz? ;)
Thank you for the elephants on parade. They do help lighten the mood after my beloved Royals were beaten in the World Series.
I've also never boiled canned chick peas but now I'm curious! Also, if you buy dried chick peas and cook your own, it's even cheaper and tastes better. I don't do that all the time but they also freeze well so you can have some in reserve. Roasted red peppers are my favorite addition to hummus. Yum!
OK, I have not tried boiling the canned ones but now I will. We love hummus and I can't bring myself to pay the market price for something that is SO EASY!
Hummus with jalapeno is a FAVORITE of mine. And also roasted red pepper hummus. Best would be any hummus you make with your bread, I JUST KNOW IT!
Post a Comment