Hummus

Not only do I passionately collect cookbooks, the first section I head for at the library is the cookbook aisle.  I’m obsessed with recipes, cooking, and everything remotely connected to food.

Could you tell?

The wonderful thing about checking cookbooks out at the library is you get to take them for a “test drive” and see if they warrant a trip to Amazon.   With some cookbooks, I only find a couple of recipes that interest me, so I simply jot them down on a recipe card. However, other cookbooks, such as  Ellie Krieger’s cookbooks (each and every one!), send me to Amazon.com faster than payday sends me to the store. With speed that breaks the sound barrier.

The most recent cookbook to pass the “test drive” was Ellie Krieger’s Comfort Food Fix: Feel-Good Favorites Made Healthy.  I realized there wasn’t enough ink in the house to record all of the recipes I’d want to make in this particular cookbook, so I put my pen away and told Ellie’s lovely face I’d see her on Amazon.

Soon.

The first recipe I made from this cookbook was the Roasted Red Pepper Hummus.  Like all results from an Ellie Krieger recipe, the hummus was phenomenal.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

1 larger roasted red pepper, drained and rinsed if jarred
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
One 15 oz can chickpeas, preferably low-sodium, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons tahini
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1 teaspoon for garnish
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons water

Finely chop 1 tablespoon of the roasted red pepper and reserve for a garnish. Coarsely chop the remaining roasted red pepper. I use jarred red peppers for every recipe, including this one. They’re delicious and save you the time of roasting the red peppers yourself.

Using the broad side of a knife blade, mash together the garlic and the 1/2 teaspoon salt to form a paste.  Place the garlic paste, chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of the oil, the cumin, the water, and the roasted red pepper into a food processor and process until smooth.  Season with additional salt to taste.

Place the hummus into a serving bowl and garnish with the reserved red pepper.  Drizzle the remaining 1 teaspoon oil over the top.  Hummus will keep for about 1 week in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Yield: 8 servings