Making Hummus

Making good on my promise,  I made some hummus this week. My goal was to make it as smooth and creamy as possible and not mess with the flavors too much, trying to keep it pure.

I researched a bunch of recipes and investigated a few techniques and decided I would have to make my own tahini paste as well.  Firstly because tahini is crazy expensive and I just don't need a quart of it.

So the tahini came first

About 1/2 cup of sesame seeds, pan toasted
plain oil

I placed the toasted seeds in the food processor and whirled them to a stiff paste before adding enough oil to make it pour-able. Once pour-able I pressed it through a strainer just to take out some of the skins. Tahini done. So easy.

Now the hummus was a little harder and took a bit longer. I had already soaked a pound of dry chickpeas overnight, rubbed them between my hands to get most of the skins off so they stayed out of my final product.

When I got home form work, I started cooking the chickpeas till tender (about 40 minutes). I reserved 1/2 of them in a freezer bag for a layer batch.

The rest when into the processor for a spin with some of the cooking liquid to thin it out a bit. All in all about 1 cup or more of the liquid. 

I added 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 peeled cloves of garlic, a little salt and the juice of 2 lemons with 1/2 the tahini paste I made. Now I really let the food processor go for a few minutes adding more liquid as needed till it was the consistency I wanted. It was smooth but not silky. I am not sure I have enough power in these tools to make silky happen. After I scooped into a bowl I got out my trusty hand blender and that took it up a level. Not perfect but darn good.  I might invest in a chinois to press it through.

Hummus

juice 2 lemons
1 pound chickpeas, soaked overnight, cooked till tender, most skins removed
2 cloves of garlic peeled
salt
1/4 cup tahini paste
Olive oil
Reserved cooking liquid

Simple fresh kick lately

Yesterday I played a little hookie and left work to enjoy a nice lunch with my lovely bride at El Basha. The hummus was enough to slap your mama so now I am obsessed with recreating this puree of the gods the way they make it, extra creamy and smooth.

  But tonight, as I soak and skin my chick peas, I made Lime Cilantro Shrimp Salad. So fresh and totally delicious.

 1 pound cooled cooked shrimp chopped in 3 pieces
  2 ripe avocados, cubed
  2 hard boiled eggs sliced
 2 fresh limes sqeezed
 2 cloves minced garlic
 pinch of sugar
 salt and pepper
Olive oil about 1/4 cup
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Croutons

  I served this over a bed of lettuce.

Relish Magazine recipe

In yesterday's paper a recipe caught my eye after a discussion this morning about a easy dinner tonight. We will be eating richly tomorrow so we wanted to take it a little easy tonight. I found this recipe and it looks good. I will make it and let you know how it goes. Since I just recently bought a jar of pesto....

Skillet Pesto Chicken

1/4 c flour
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 pounds bite size boneless chicken
3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1/2 c pesto
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 c heavy cream
salt and pepper
3 tbsp Parmesan

Combine flour and cayenne in a zip bag and add the chicken pieces, shake to coat.

Heat oil over medium and add chicken, turning occasionally till browned. Remove and keep warm.

Add butter to pan  then add mushrooms and cook till golden, return chicken and add pesto, broth and cream. stir to combine and allow to thicken for a few minutes over medium heat.

Salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle Parmesan over all. Serve over rice or noodles or side salad.