Have some hummus!

I love hummus.

Which is a funny odd thing. Because I just *hate* chickpeas.

I like middle eastern and Mediterranean food so I tried some hummus. I liked it! I like Cedar's best and I like their Garden Vegetable best.

Making my own was the next logical step!

Garlic and Dill Hummus
I used canned chickpeas and they were good but I'm really cheap and I thought they were kind of expensive. And I only use a half a can or so and what do I do with the rest of them? There's that and I read that fixing your own chickpeas makes really good hummus, so I started fixing my own chickpeas.

You need tahini for hummus. Tahini is easy to make. I toast a jar (about 1/2 cup?) of sesame seeds in a 250 degree oven for about 10 or 12 minutes. They scorch easily and they get really bitter when they scorch. So don't let them scorch! Then put them in a food processor with a quarter cup of extra virgin olive oil drizzled in while you whir them for for a couple of minutes. You really need a food processor for this there's no other way. Tahini keeps for a couple of months in the refrigerator.

My hummus recipe:

• 1 cup chickpeas
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• some lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon tahini. Maybe a little more. Taste it.
• pinch of salt
• liquid from the chickpeas

Put all the ingredients except the chickpea liquid in a food processor and whir them together. Add the liquid from the chickpeas until it reaches the texture and consistency you like. It takes maybe a tablespoon or so. You'll want to whir this for maybe 3 or 4 minutes and I find the higher speeds make a nicer (smoother) hummus. This is all about what you like, so experiment with it. And it's not the end of the world if you mess it up.

Add some herbs. Garlic is a good choice. With some cilantro or dill. Maybe some roasted garlic. Or roasted peppers. Or roasted tomato. I like to add some chopped chili pepper too. Jalapeño or serrano depending on what kind of mood I'm in.

Fixing chickpeas: Soak them overnight, then gently boil them for 2 hours in some fresh water. Now, I accidentally found out, having been distracted one day, that gently boiling them for 3 hours makes a most awesome hummus, so I always do them for 3 hours. By the way, your chickpeas are probably going to double at least when you fix them so, for a cup of prepared chickpeas use a half cup of dried chickpeas.

I like to dip whole wheat mini pita wedges in hummus and chianti goes really well with it! And I still can't quite make that Garden Vegetable hummus like Cedar's can!

This is a favorite side dish to have with my hummus:

Israeli Couscous Salad
Really does that look irresistible or what!

This is inspired by a trip through the local Whole Foods Market prepared foods section. I winged it and it's delicious.

Israeli couscous salad:

• 1 cup Israeli couscous
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• pinch of salt

Gently boil the couscous in the chicken broth for 10 minutes. Fluff it and set it aside to cool.

Add the salt, vinegar and olive oil to the couscous and chill it.

Immediately before serving, combine and mix the other ingredients with the chilled couscous. I love cilantro but you can just as easily use some green onions in this instead. I put chili peppers on this too. I like the way the cranberries balance the vinegar and then you add a little heat and it's *delicious*.

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Because of the all the snow the neighboring deer are under a lot of pressure this winter. Right across the river here is several hundred acres of conservation land. I knew that was important but I didn't realize how important. Having seen developers build *hundreds* of homes around here in the past 20 years I'm sure they would have built across the river if they could.

Here's a herd of deer out on the frozen river at 10:00 am.

12 February 2011