Hummus!!!

We needed some munchies between Easter brunch and Easter dinner so I thought I'd whip up some hummus. Did you know my mother-in-law introduced me to hummus 22 years ago? I had never had such a thing before! She introduced me to artichokes too! Oh and fennel and all sorts of interesting things.

So it's only appropriate for me to make hummus for her!

Did you know they're charging $5 for a tub of hummus these days? Goodness gracious! Make your own!

Do you have to have a food processor to make hummus? NO! You could use a blender, a hand mixer, mortar & pestle, or even a bowl and fork. You'll just get a chunkier more "rustic" hummus.

I like to start with garlic. Garlic is always a good place to start!

Mince it up! The tinier you get it the more garlic you'll taste.

Let's throw in some lemon! It'll brighten things up and it helps the garlic give up it's goodness.

Now for some salt. The salt will help break down the garlic too.

Scrape everything down to the bottom so they're mingling. Now we'll leave them to get friendly a few minutes. Let's talk seasoning.

I love the taste of cumin in my hummus and I really love it when there is a few whole cumin seeds in there. It's like little nuggets of bonus flavor in the dip.

Cumin likes heat. Since our hummus doesn't get cooked I'm going to heat up my cumin to get it's flavor a little brightened. I can use less cumin and get more flavor.

Heat it over some high heat until you can smell it!

I went ahead and threw a little powdered cumin in after I turned the heat off. The powdered cumin likes a little heat too and it'll distribute through the hummus quicker. (I want to eat the hummus today after all!) Take the cumin off the heat. If you're using a nice heavy pan such as the cast iron I'm using you may want to put it in a bowl to stop it's heating.

Open up a can of chick peas and rinse them off with some nice cold water.

Throw them all in with the garlic and lemon! We're practically there!

Give it a mix! It'll just break up the beans a little. Now hummus is supposed to have this gorgeous sesame paste in it called tahini. It's wonderfully tasty stuff but I only have one use for it. I like more "multifunctional" ingredients around the house so I make a few . . . substitutions . . . shh, don't tell!

A little peanut butter for it's nutty creaminess.

and a little sesame oil. This is roasted sesame seed oil and it is fantastic. I bet your grocery store carries it! It'd be right near the soy sauce in the Asian section. I use it in Asian soups, stir-fry, and in dipping sauces. The kids even put a few drops in their ramen noodles! Very multifunctional.

Throw them in a blend them up.

Now for a little water to help things get wetter and more pureed.

We're getting there. I like my hummus to be fluffy and light.

Olive oil will fix that!

Now I like a little "kick" in my hummus so I added a tad touch of this too. It's smoky and hot. Some canned chipotle would be delicious too. Sometimes I just throw in a bit of hot sauce.

Now give it a little taste and see if you need more salt. Not all canned chickpeas or peanut butters are created the same. You can even add more lemon if you like. If the lemon is too strong for you then sit it in the refrigerator for awhile and it'll tone down. Fresh lemon mellows with time.

Oh, oh, oh! It's so light and fluffy and creamy! Garlicky, nutty, and spicy. Just a touch of tangy lemon. Perfect for parties or picnics! Serve it on pita, pita chips, crackers, or raw vegetables. Happy munching!

Hummus

1 15 oz. can of garbanzo beans (chick peas), drained and rinsed
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
juice of 1 lemon*
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin seed, toasted**
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp chipotle powder (optional)

Mix salt, lemon juice, and garlic together and set aside for 1-5 minutes. Toast cumin seed.**

Blend all ingredients together using food processor, blender, hand mixer or even by beating and smashing with a fork in a large bowl.

*If you don't like a strong acidic lemon flavor allow the juice to sit out for an hour and it'll mellow. If you love strong acidic lemon in your hummus only add half the juice at the beginning and add the other half immediately before serving.

**If you want to skip the toasting of the seed just leave it out and add a few extra sprinkles of ground cumin.

Butter Me Up

Mmmmm, butter! I love butter. You can bake it, saute it, fry it, dip it, whip it, melt it, clarify it, spread it . . .

Well that spreading thing takes some preplanning. If you want to go spreading buttery goodness around you've got to have room temperature butter.  The stuff that spreads well is that tub margarine. But the taste . . . is less than stellar. 

So let's make our own buttery spread, one that has ingredients found on first grade spelling lists! 

You'll need some unsalted butter . . . what? what was that? Why do I have fourteen pounds of butter in the freezer? I told you it's versatile! I wouldn't want to run out! What would I do if I ran out of butter? What if Paula Deen showed up on my doorstep and wanted to cook and I didn't have plenty of butter? She'd LEAVE! We wouldn't want that to happen! Always be prepared . . .

We've got to get it all room temperature.  So I threw it in a Ziploc bag in some tepid water.  It thawed out and was nice and soft in an hour.

I'm going to mix this up in my food processor but you can do it in a blender. I've even mixed it in a heavy mixing bowl with a whisk. 

Throw your butter in the mixing bowl. I like to mix up a pound at a time. 

Now if that isn't a vision of goodness I don't know what is.  It's practically bending under it's own weight!

Look at that color! Isn't it beautiful? One of my greatest disappointments is that I can't wear butter colored clothes. They make me look a sickly green color.  Oh well. 

Shove the butter down in there and add a little salt to it.

I always buy unsalted butter for two reasons. Most recipes call for unsalted butter.  The second reason is that butter makers leave the best tasting butter unsalted. They add salt to the butter that has funky flavors in it.  Why does butter get funky flavors? Well those darn cows occasionally run across funky things to eat in their grass such as spring onions. This can leave some "funky" flavors in their milk.  Funky flavors that American palates don't appreciate.  Salt balances out bitterness and our food producers know this!

Turn on the motor!

You're just trying to break it up a little and start the salt mixing in.  You're not going to whip it smooth at this point.  If you're doing this by hand you'll basically be spreading it all around the bowl at this point.

Use the vegetable oil of your choice. I don't care for canola because of the grease stains it leaves on our clothing so I stick with soybean generally.

As for the amount you add in? I vary it on the season.  I need my spread to stay somewhat solid for an entire dinner time. So, in the winter I add almost two cups of oil. In the heat of summer I knock it down to 1 1/4 cup of oil. If you make it regularly you can adjust it to your household's needs!

Add your oil in a smooth stream. When I do this by hand I add a 1/4 cup and then mix.

I stop and scrape the sides when I'm using a machine for the mixing.  Mmmm, butter chunks!

Blend it some more. It's a vision of creamy goodness at this point!

You're going to want to give it a taste.  It's silky, creamy, has a dairy sweetness, and has the slightest tang of salt. PERFECT!!!

Pour it in a couple of plastic storage cups. Heck! It looks store bought!

There were a few lumps of butter leftover but I just stirred them in with a fork.  I always get them but I never notice them in the spread when we use it.  Who doesn't like little lumps of butter?

Seal them up and throw them in your fridge.

Spreads beautiful! Looks beautiful! Tastes beautiful!

Of course, you can even cook with this stuff if you like, but I save it for the table.