I’ve been on a dip kick. It started with these naked babes and went downhill from there. I made hot artichoke dip and no one in my family liked it but me. (There’s gotta be something seriously wrong with people who don’t like hot artichoke dip. I refuse to justify their strangeness.) I served pesto torte. I bought the ingredients for guacamole and pico de gallo. (Can you tell that I’ve recently acquired Pioneer Woman’s cookbook?) I made double and triple batches of pita chips multiple times.
In fact, I have two more bags of pitas sitting on the counter just waiting to be dressed with butter, chopped up, salted, and baked. If you haven’t made them yet, you really must. We are all absolutely nuts about them. Head over heels in love. True love.
And I served them to company this weekend and they commented about them several times, impressed that I had added no extra seasonings.
They’re really good.
If, by chance you missed my post about them, or the link for the post in the first paragraph, I’ll include it again right HERE. I’m just trying to make it easy for you.
Okay, I’ll stop now.
(Please make them.)
Back to the dips.
So I was talking pesto torte and baked brie and salsa (well, not the salsa, but I could’ve been) and then Mavis up and said, What about the hummus, huh?
And I said, Dang! She’s right! I forgot the hummus!
So now I give you the hummus. It’s my favoritest hummus recipe. I can eat embarrassingly enormous quantities of it.
That is, if I were to be the type of person that gets embarrassed about my hummus consumption. But I’m not. The stuff is good for you. There is nothing to be ashamed about.
This hummus is not only nutritious, pretty, and creamy, it’s lemony, garlicky, and parsley-y. (Say “parsley-y” three times fast and you’ll feel like you have the palsy. Or maybe it’s just me?)
It’s filling enough to be a main dish, and if the mono-color offends you, serve it with some carrot sticks and fresh fruit.
Go on, now. Make it. Throw you and your buddies a springy dip party. (When summer hits, you can branch out and make it a skinny dip party. If you’re that sort. But if you do that and get embarrassed, don’t blame it on the hummus.)
And whatever you do, spring or summer, DON’T FORGET THE PITA CHIPS. (Geesh.)
Hummus
Adapted from The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen
The fresh parsley and lemon juice are crucial. Do not use substitutes.
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1 large handful of parsley
2 scallions, roughly chopped
3 cups cooked chickpeas (or 2 15-1/2 ounce cans), rinsed and drained
6 tablespoons tahini
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon cumin
Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse till well-mixed and creamy. (Or, if you prefer, you can leave it a little chunkier.) Taste to correct seasonings.
Store in a tightly lidded container in the refrigerator.
Serve with crackers, PITA CHIPS, or fresh flour tortillas.
About one year ago: Rhubarb Sorbet
13 Comments
It's me ...Mavis
I made this tonight! DE-LISH! The handsome husband ate 2/3rds of it… I think he might be a little sorry he did that tomorrow… but it was good! It's a keeper!
Cookie baker Lynn
OK, you talked me into it. I'll make it tonight for daughter and son-in-law dinner. We're grilling gorgeous salmon and this would be lovely next to it.
Zoë
Mavis, I found tahini next to the peanut butter at my grocery store.
beth
As usual….I love reading about your food adventures…Now…will I go into the kitchen and make it??? I just might. 😉
Jennifer Jo
Mavis, I DO know how to change the publish date/time, but blogger won't let me on that latest post. Dumb thing. (Tahini is Middle Eastern, so it's probably in the Ethnic isle, maybe with the Mexican food.)
Beautyandjoy, Aren't you going to share The Epiphany??? I'm curious! I LOVE epiphanies!
~beautyandjoy~
I am in love with this post. Every yummy detail. I am also so in love with your banner quote – so in love with it that it gave me an epiphany! 🙂
It's me ...Mavis
JJ… I agree with Amy… there is a time lag between when you post and when it actually shows up. I suspect you are writing at night and hitting the publish button in the morning…. which would give you a "time stamp" of when you actually WROTE the post not when you POSTED it. You can change that you know.
Anyway… I was happy to see that you posted this & I wrote down the recipe and plan on making it this week… 🙂 Now I just have to google "Tahini Sauce" so I know what isle to look down… I like the word Tahini… it makes me think of Tahiti… not that I want to fly 22 hours to get there… unless of course you can sell this Hummus recipe for big bucks to some New York publishing house and as part of your book deal you take all of your readers to Tahiti… then I'll go…
Ellies Wonder
It's funny that you posted about hummus and pita chips because we've been on a kick of the same thing. We like to do our pita chips exactly like you mentioned, but our hummus recipe is a bit different. I think next time (this week) we will try your hummus. 🙂
Jennifer Jo
Zoe, Good ideas. I bet I'd like them, though I suspect that I'd always revert back to this recipe when in a pinch—it's classy and simple and straightforward…
Amy, I'm so sorry. I'm having trouble with my posting options—I think this is the root of the problem you're noting. If it doesn't straighten out in the next week or two (the new computer is coming this week!), please let me know.
The cottage cheese on Doritos sounds delightful! But banana pudding on pita chips? Eh, not so much…
Amy
okay, I……am very sad. You need one of those 'blog updats delived via email' things, because I am not seeing your posts show up and then a week later, I'm all 'What? Where did all these posts come from?!'
Speaking of dip-ish things, I'm on a banana pudding kick. Bizarre, considering the last time I had banana pudding was yearrrrrsssss ago. I bet that would be good with pita chips, too! (Did I ever mention how good cottage cheese is when used as a dip with Doritos? Sounds gross, but it's yummy.)
Zoë
have you tried roasted red pepper hummus? Mmm, that's my favorite. I've also had spinach hummus and liked it.
Margo
I always make my hummus straight up – I like the parsley in yours and I will try that next time. My sis-in-law usually plays around and adds black beans or dried tomatoes or some such, but I'm usually making it for lunch that was 20 minutes ago.
You Can Call Me Jane
Mollie's recipe is the best- we use that one, too:-).