Hummmmmus!

I promised a post dedicated to hummus and I couldn't wait any longer!  My love affair with hummus began as a teenager way back before my Whole Foods in Little Rock, AR was a Wild Oats and a Beans and Grains and Things before that!  I can't remember if the hummus that got me hooked was a Beans, etc. creation or Wild Oats, but it was black bean hummus that got me started.  It was an easy transition from the black bean dip I loved as a tot and it was healthy and herby (I don't need to justify my love).  Hummus became my snack of choice from then on out.  The standard Tahini, Roasted Red Pepper, and Black Bean varieties ruled my snack world for most of high school.  Until I started frequenting Boulevard Bread Company in the Upper Kavanaugh neighborhood in Little Rock, I thought hummus had to be somewhat paste-like and coarse-textured.  Boulevard changed the hummus-scape.  Their hummus was smooth and had a creamy tahini-ness with a slow-creeping cayenne heat that won me over.  At least twice a week I went after school with friends for a coffee, a sliced baguette and a package of hummus.  When I left for college I was slightly distraught because my campus was a million miles from acceptable hummus and McClurg (the dining hall) had the most unexciting if slightly edible "plain" variety.  Then I discovered the Trader Joe's in Nashville an hour away.  It blew my mind the first time I struggled to choose between their unprecedented 500 kinds of hummus (exaggeration).  Edamame Hummus? Unconventional, but addictive. 

Fast forward to the summer after graduating college: I’m trying to watch my spending seeing as I am an unpaid intern living in Washington, DC.  How can I cut my grocery costs?  I found a little food processor for $15 and bought my hummus fixings.  You would not believe my complete disappointment in my first batch of the homemade stuff.  It was bland, watery yet chunky, a total disaster.  I searched cookbooks, websites, everything and told myself each new product was better than the last but I remained unsatisfied.  Finally one day I was bragging that I might have found a hummus I could live with.  Everyone agreed that hummus was a hard thing to perfect at home and I was beginning to gain some confidence.  I even brought some for people to try!  My supervisor swooped in to try it and said, “Nope.  I’ve got a recipe for you.  Don’t even bother with this one.”  Shock and curiosity consumed me!  I bugged that woman for the recipe for weeks until she finally e-mailed it to me (I now know she must have been guarding this).  I went home and whipped it up immediately- it was the spicy, fragrant, standard hummus I’d been looking for!  Before I divulge this recipe let me just preface with the fact that people may not like this version because it isn’t pure tahini, garbanzo, lemon and olive oil.  I don’t claim that this IS the best out there; I just know that I think so.

You need:

1 Can Chickpeas/Garbanzo beans, with ¼ C. juice reserved

¼ C. Tahini

¼ Cup Olive Oil

Juice of one medium lemon, or more to taste

1 Garlic Clove

1 tsp. Cumin

1 tsp. Ground Coriander

1 tsp. Salt

Couple of dashes of cayenne

As I stated before I have a bunk food processor, so I can’t stream in olive oil as I blend the other ingredients.  But try it if you can.  Just throw all of this in the FP and go to town.  Drew, the boyfriend, likes his a little coarse in texture, and he has to because my food processor can’t make it very smooth because it’s a piece of CRAP.  In my experience making this with other people’s blenders and processors, it comes out as smooth as you want it. 

The thing I love about this recipe is it also supports variety, such as Jalapeno Cilantro Hummus, Drew’s favorite (I’m really not trying to sound like Ina Garten here).  All you do is throw in a fistful or less, your preference, of cilantro, stems and leafy bits and a jalapeno or spicy pepper of your choice.  I LOVE getting the super spicy peppers from the farmers market and substituting that for the jalapeno.  Quick note on adding the cilantro stems- Jamie Oliver uses the stems in one of his curry dishes that I made and the flavor was so much crisper and brighter.  See if you like it as much as I do- it adds crunch, always a good thing.

Let me know about some other variations out there- I’m always looking for more hummus!

Presto, Pesto!

Hello!  My name is Katie and I love to cook.  How cheesy is that?  I can’t think of any other way to start this blog except to say just that: I love to cook.  I also am embarking on a culinary career and I’m a little nervous because sometimes I can’t even make a proper grilled cheese (I’m still embarrassed about breaking down over a mangled mess of bread, butter and cheese and having my boyfriend tell me to go sit down while he fixed it).  Seems like a poor career choice after sharing that bit of information, doesn’t it?  I don’t look at it that way.  Sometimes I make the most amazing meals and sometimes they flop.  Isn’t that the way every cook’s resume looks?  Even on Top Chef some of those guys put out things I don’t want to try, but that’s the way it works!  I’m learning slowly how to perfect basics, try new and out there things and I’m sharing my experiences. This blog is about exploring the successes and failures of an aspiring, ever-evolving young cook.  Here’s my first entry.

Today was a pesto bonanza.  I usually make fresh pesto the second good-looking basil starts showing up in the grocery stores or farmers markets.  However, last summer and all I only made ONE batch.  I was a little ashamed to say the least, because there is nothing more satisfying and bright- tasting and happiness-inducing than eating homemade pesto.  The other great thing: you can use it in EVERYTHING.  Pasta is the most common and obvious choice, because well, you shouldn’t mess with a good thing.  But think of all the possibilities!  Pesto stirred into mashed potatoes, pesto sour cream, pesto-coated meatiness, salad dressing, sandwich spread…I really could go on forever.  It’s just such a lovely creation.  So, this afternoon I went to town with some pesto.  I mean, was a pesto making fool.  Before telling you all the yummy things I made with pesto, I must first tell you how to achieve pesto nirvana.

The pesto I make is from a recipe I found in the Flat Belly Diet Cookbook.  Do not scoff- this cookbook has many different recipes with great-for-you-fats, because honestly you can, but shouldn’t live without them.  The reason this recipe is a MUFA (mono-unsaturated fatty acids) rich concoction is because of pine nuts and olive oil.  Very, very good for you and very delicious.  The pesto consists of:

3 Cups fresh Basil, packed

1/4 C. olive oil

1/4 C. freshly grated Parmesan

1/4 C. toasted pine nuts (to toast, put in a skillet on medium heat till they are fragrant and slightly browned, then put them on a plate to cool)

1 Clove garlic

*This is a half recipe because I have a ghetto, tiny food processor.

So you just blend that up in a food processor.  Some recipes say to slowly add in the oil through the hole in the top of the processor, but since I don't have one of those fancy, hole-y food processors, I just add it all at once and grind that business till it's well chopped but not too smooth.  I like a slightly grainy consistency, but to each their own.

            Of course, I couldn’t just stop with the pesto.  It smelled so good and fresh I just had to do something with it.  This is when my kitchen ADD kicks in.  It’s a terribly wonderful thing because I can spend entire days in my kitchen making food I could never possibly consume.  The wonderful part about it is you eat well all day, every day.  Anyways, I was thinking, “Oooo, wouldn’t that pesto be great with eggs and toast in the morning?”  As I was putting away the pine nuts I’d just used I saw an unopened package of polenta in my pantry.  “Why haven’t I cooked with this yet?” I thought.  Upon reading the packaging I saw a recipe for egg and ham with grilled polenta.  And that’s how, five minutes later, I found myself making a gigantor pot of polenta….for polenta loaf, duh.  As that was coming together I thought, “I wonder what that pesto would taste like stirred into that polenta?”  Now I have a polenta loaf AND a small amount of pesto polenta that is really fantastic.  Saturday morning at Casa de Katie will consist of eggs, crispy ham and pan-fried pesto polenta cakes.  Maybe with more pesto smeared on the cakes.  Do I have a problem?

            You would think I would stop here.  Oh no.  I have an on-going love affair with hummus and I can’t be without it.  I always have some in my fridge.  Bonus: I make my own and I don’t want to brag, but it’s pretty awesome.  If I get started on the hummus topic….well, I wont.  That story and recipe is for another day.  To get to the point, I am out of hummus.  So what do I think of?  Pesto hummus.  Regular pesto hummus?  Eww.  White bean pesto hummus?  Nom Nom Nom.  Here it is:

1. Drain a can of White beans (cannelini beans) and a can of garbanzos.  Reserve 1/4 C of the juice in the garbanzo can.  Put the whole can of white beans and half of the garbanzos in the FP(food processor).  
2. Then chop up a clove of garlic, mid-sized and throw that in along with the reserved bean juice.
3.  Squeeze 1/2 to a whole lemon and pour that in too- it really is a matter of taste how lemony you like it.  I put in 3/4 of the lemon.  
4. Next is a little under 1/4 cup of Tahini.  With this hummus i put a heaping teaspoon of tahini in because I wanted the white beans to shine, not the typical potent tahini flavor of humus.
5.  Lastly a dash or two of celery salt, 3/4 tsp.of salt, about 1 tsp. of coriander and the most important part, 3 spoonfuls of the homemade pesto.  I cracked some freshly ground pepper to taste over the whole shabang and blended it till it could blend no more.  Top with a dollop of pesto!

I could not be more enthused about pesto today (couldn’t you tell?).  That’s what’s so nice and fun and nourishing- in more ways than one, ba-dun-dun- about this cooking thing!  I am not changing the landscape of culinary world from my tiny kitchen in New Haven, CT by any means.  I’m simply so excited to learn more about food, how to prepare it and share it with others. 

Go out and get some tasty-looking basil.  Happy cooking!