Hummus with Pita Chips

Yes, you can buy a pretty decent hummus at the store for $5 (you better be buying Sabra), but no supermarket hummus can compare to the amazing creaminess and taste of homemade hummus. I still dream about the hummus in Israel, served at nearly every meal with fresh pita and herbs.

Here in the Bay Area, Z and I like to travel down to Oren's Hummus in Palo Alto for fresh hummus and grilled chicken, but given the traffic and driving time, we don't make it down nearly as much as we would like. For weekends when a hummus craving strikes (which for me is about every other week to be completely honest), homemade hummus is the way to go.

Cooking hummus at home is really straightforward. It does require some foresight and thought, so buy the ingredients during the week and start the soaking process on Friday night when you get home from work/happy hour/dinner. By Saturday at noon, you'll have a giant bowl of homemade hummus for weekend football parties and fall picnics.

Every good hummus needs a vehicle to eat it with, and my personal favorite is homemade pita chips. Homemade pita chips are healthier than store bought chips, have way more flavor, and are easy to throw together at a moment's notice. Inspired by Mediterranean flavors, I flavored my chips with sumac and thyme.

I find that each person has their own hummus preferences, so feel free to treat this recipe as a guideline. Add more lemon juice, garlic, and herbs to your liking. Add in some roasted tomatoes or garlic. I serve mine topped with olive oil and a sumac/thyme combination, but grilled meats, pine nuts, and chopped veggies would all be outstanding.

Hummus and Pita Chips

From The New York Times and Ina Garten

1 1/4 cups dried chickpeas

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons light tahini paste

4 cloves garlic, crushed

4 tablespoons lemon juice

6 1/2 tablespoons cold ice water

1 package pita

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Sumac

4 sprigs fresh thyme

Place the chickpeas in a large bowl and cover with cold water twice its volume. Let soak overnight. 

The next morning, drain chickpeas. In a medium saucepan, combine drained chickpeas and baking soda over medium high heat. Cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Add 6 1/2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Cook at a simmer, skimming foam and chickpea skins off the top of the water, for 20 to 40 minutes, until chickpeas are tender (in my testing, it was about 20 minutes). When done, the chickpeas should crumble easily when pressed, but should not be mushy.

Drain chickpeas. Place chickpeas in food processor, and process until you get a stiff paste. With machine running, add tahini paste, garlic, lemon juice, and salt (1 1/2 teaspoons). Slowly drizzle in ice water, and let process for 5 minutes until you get a smooth and creamy paste. If it is too thick, add more water as necessary. 

Transfer hummus to bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit for 30 minutes. Refrigerate if not eating right away--will last up to 2 days in the fridge.

For pita chips: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cut each pita into 8 slices. Toss pita slices with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt, pepper, sumac, and thyme. Spread pita slices onto a baking sheet, and cook for 10 minutes, tossing at 5 minutes. 

Enjoy! 

Back to Basics: Roasted Garlic

I love garlic. Garlic bread, chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, pasta with sliced garlic, garlic green beans, garlic hummus--as long as it's on the savory side, I'm a fan of throwing a few garlic cloves into it. Z, on the other hand, claims to dislike garlic. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will change at any given moment, because how could you NOT like garlic, but anyways, it means my food life is often garlic deprived.

Luckily, we had a few extra heads of garlic around the other day and lots of bread, which gave me the perfect excuse to create a batch of roasted garlic. Roasted garlic is more mellow and sweet than raw garlic, and it has this awesome creamy texture with caramelized edges. It's garlic for grown ups. 

Roasted garlic is my favorite as is on top of really good bread. It's a great low calorie alternative to butter! The options don't stop there though. Whisk it into a salad dressing, use it as a spread, throw it into mashed potatoes.--it'll give a flavor boost to anything you add it to.

This is a nearly foolproof recipe, so there's no excuse for not making some roasted garlic this weekend. 

Roasted Garlic

1 head of garlic

Drizzle of olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Chop the top off of the garlic, so that the cloves are exposed. Try to remove a little bit of the white skin, while keeping the head of garlic intact. Lay a piece of foil on a baking sheet, and place the garlic on top. Drizzle the garlic head with olive oil, then wrap the head up in the foil. 

Bake in the oven until cloves are caramel in color and tender, about 30 minutes. 

Tabbouleh

June is by FAR my favorite month. Sunshine, fresh berries, beaches, bright nail polish colors, tank tops, ice cream, summer BBQs...I mean, what is there not to like? MOST importantly, June is also my birthday month! 

In honor of my favorite month and summer barbecues, I am going to be sharing my favorite summer entertaining recipes during the month of June. 

Tabbouleh,  a Middle Eastern staple, should really be a staple at your summer table. It is light and refreshing thanks to the abundance of parsley, mint, and lemon juice! This is a true herb salad, filled with lots of market fresh produce. It is perfect side dish to grilled meats or as an appetizer option during cocktails. 

This recipe for tabbouleh comes from the cookbook Jerusalem by Yotam Ottelenghi and Sami Tamimi. It is not hard to see why this cookbook quickly rose to success. Combining their Jewish (Ottelenghi) and Arab (Tamimi) backgrounds with the love of their hometown (Jerusalem), Ottelenghi and Tamimi beautifully demonstrate how to make delicious Middle Eastern dishes, both familiar and exotic. 

This cookbook is one I am going to reach for in the years to come, not only for its tasty recipes, but also for the wonderful stories about Jerusalem. Jerusalem is such a unique and vibrant city given its rich history and importance to three of the world's religions. In just a few hundred pages, Jerusalem manages to capture the energy and spirit of this wonderful city. 

Tabbouleh

from Jerusalem

1/3 cup fine bulgur wheat

2 large tomatoes, ripe but firm

1 shallot, finely chopped

3 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus a little extra to finish

4 large bunches flat-leaf parsley

2 bunches mint

2 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon baharat spice mix

1/3 cup olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

If you cannot find fine bulgur wheat or if you do not know what grade bulgur wheat you have, then soak the wheat in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain the bulgur, and then leave it to dry in a fine sieve.

Put the bulgur in a fine sieve and run under cold water until the water rinsing through looks clear. Transfer to a large mixing bow.

Using a small serrated knife, cut the tomatoes into slices 1/4 inch thick. Cut each slice in 1/4 inch strips, and then into dices. Add the tomatoes and their juices to the bowl, along with the shallot and lemon juice. Stir well.

Take a few sprigs of parsley and pack them together tightly. Use a large, very sharp knife to trim off most of the stems and discard. Use the knife to move up the stems and leaves, gradually "feeding" the knife in order to shred the parsley as finely as you can. Try to avoid cutting pieces wider than 1/32 inch. Add to the pick.

Pick the mint leaves off the stems, pack a few together tightly, and shred them finely as you did the parsley. Add to the bowl.

Finally, add the allspice, baharat, olive oil, and some salt and pepper. Taste and add more salt, pepper, and lemon juice if you like. 

Homemade Ricotta and Ricotta Toasts

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend! I had such a wonderful weekend, and I am sad it is now at an end. Zach was visiting DC for work, and our weekend was filled with chocolate chip cookies, long walks, and a beer tasting with friends.

When Zach is in town, I use him as a guinea pig on new recipes, and homemade ricotta was calling my name. Homemade ricotta is deceptively quite simple to make! From start to finish, the recipe only took 10 minutes of active cooking time. 

This ricotta would make a great food gift (in a beautiful container and a hand-written note) or would be perfect for entertaining. Even if you serve it with store-bought bread or pasta, everyone will be impressed that you made the ricotta!

I made both sweet and savory ricotta snacks. One is simply bread, ricotta, roasted tomatoes, olive oil, and fresh black pepper.  The sweet ricotta dish is bread, ricotta, raspberries, and honey. Try them out next time you have friends over!

Ricotta Cheese

from Bon Appétit Magazine

about 1 cup of ricotta

2 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice or distilled white vinegar

Combine milk, cream, and salt in a pot, and cook over medium heat until it just begins to boil. Remove from heat. 

 Add lemon juice (or vinegar), and stir gently until mixture starts to curdle. Let stand for 5 minutes.

Pour mixture into a fine-mesh sieve lined with two layers of cheesecloth, set over a medium bowl. Chill until the cheese is spreadable, at least 20 minutes and up until 12 hours. The cheese should last for about three days covered in the fridge.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Dates

Goat cheese stuffed dates is my new go-to snack/salad addition/appetizer. It can be your new favorite too.  Yes, they sound very impressive. Yes, I promise they are easy to make. Yes, your friends will be jealous impressed with your new-found cooking skills. 

I love finding out that my favorite restaurant treats (like these dates during happy hour) are simple enough to recreate at home. Why not have our own happy hour right at home with some great drinks and these dates?

Goat Cheese Stuffed Dates

Serves one
Recipe from Dash and Bella

8 pitted dates

1/4 cup goat cheese

Splash of balsamic vinegar

Splash of olive oil

Preheat your broiler. Fill each date with goat cheese--no need to be perfect here! 

Set the dates on a baking sheet. Splash with olive oil and vinegar. 

Place under the broiler for approximately four minutes. You want the dates to be warmed thoroughly, the cheese to turn a little brown, but make sure the dates do not burn.

Serve alone, in a citrus salad, or any other way you please!

Greek Yogurt Sauce

I recently purchased an UP band for myself, and I have actually been very thorough with logging my food, activity, and sleep habits through the UP iPhone app. Even after just a few days, I noticed myself making healthier food choices, simply because I am now keeping track of almost everything I eat. 

Last weekend, I wanted to make a dip to go with some crudités and sandwiches, but I wanted the dip to be somewhat healthy given my new found health kick. Perusing the internet led me to focus on Greek-inspired veggie dips. I love love love Mediterranean food, and this dip is definitely going to be in constant rotation in my kitchen! It only takes about three minutes to pull everything together, and the dip really livens up sandwiches, salads, and vegetables.

Hope this inspires you to bring some health, Mediterranean cooking into your life this week!

Greek Yogurt Dipping Sauce

From Ellie Kreiger

1/2 cup non-fat greek yogurt

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill

1/8 teaspoon salt

Fresh black pepper to taste


In a small bowl, stir together all of the ingredients.  It's really that easy!

Home for the Holidays

I flew home to San Diego late last night, and I am so excited for a week full of the four F's: friends, family, football (GO CARDINAL!), and of course, food.

My sister has recently become obsessed with eggs.  I am actually quite happy with this, because she spent years refusing to eat any sort of eggs.  Today, she had a hankering for deviled eggs, so she and I whipped up a quick batch of them.  These are a perfect appetizer or snack--so easy to make, especially if you have hard-boiled eggs lying around in your refrigerator.  The recipe below is for traditional deviled eggs, but feel free to add in whatever herbs you like!  The possibilities are endless--curry, anchovies, capers, tarragon, etc.  

I have also included a recipe for hard-boiled eggs.  Hard-boiled eggs should never ever have gray yolks.  

Deviled Eggs

From Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything"

Serves 6

6 hard-boiled eggs

Salt to taste

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Paprika, as a garnish

1. Cool, then peel the eggs.  Cut them in half the long way.  Carefully place the yolks in a medium sized bowl. 
2. Mash the yolks with the salt, mayonnaise, mustard, and cayenne.  Taste, and adjust the seasoning to your preference.  Spoon the filling back into the whites. 
3. Garnish with paprika and serve, or cover and chill, well wrapped, for up to a day before serving.

Hard-Boiled Eggs

Makes 6 eggs

Six eggs

Place six eggs in a medium saucepan, and fill up the pan until the water rises one inch above the eggs. 

Bring the eggs to a boil over high heat.  Remove pan from heat, cover, and let sit for 10 minutes.  

Meanwhile, fill a medium bowl with one quart of water, and one tray of ice cubes. 

Transfer the eggs to the ice water with a slotted spoon.  Let the eggs sit in the ice water for five minutes.
Peel the eggs and used as desired.