Our brains were stuck. We visited the grocery store to get ingredients for dinner and thought, “Hey, it’s lunchtime. Why don’t we grab something quick?” We wandered around the store for thirty minutes in complete and utter bewilderment, drifting amidst a sea of cans and cartons. The pressure mounted. Our wife grew frustrated. We made a real mess of it. But then we saw pita chips, and inspiration hit like a snack-sized sign from the heavens. Hummus. We already had everything at home for hummus.
Hummus is fast, easy and fun to make from scratch. All you need are chickpeas, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil. And all you need to do is blend them together. From this base, you can enjoy traditional hummus or get creative by adding flavors, like sun-dried tomato or roasted red pepper.
Although we’ve always prepared hummus in the blender, we just acquired a real-deal food processor, a new Cuisinart 14-Cup Food Processor, so this provided an opportunity to take it for a spin. The Cuisinart worked wonders. While the blender tends to result in silkier hummus, the Cuisinart makes hummus with a little more texture, which is a little more authentic.
Our perfect little lunch involved dipping pita chips, sliced bell peppers, and cherry tomatoes straight from our backyard garden. Remember we mentioned dinner? That was the reason for the grocery store visit. Well, of course, the amount of hummus we’d prepared was more than a meal’s worth, so for dinner, we served it with our Moroccan beef koftas.
Let this be a lesson, dear readers: always keep a couple cans of chickpeas in the pantry—and good olive oil. This dish provides a perfect vehicle for the fancy olive oil because you truly taste the quality. Our favorite is Papa Vince Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Life, much like hummus, is all about finding the right blend. Dive in, take risks, and don’t be afraid to change up things (or appliances). Happy eating!.
Homemade Hummus in the Food Processor
Ingredients
- 2 15-ounce cans of chickpeas, drained (but reserve chickpea liquid) 1
- 4 tablespoons of olive oil
- 4 tablespoons of lemon juice
- 4 tablespoons of tahini
- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 2 teaspoons of kosher salt, to taste
- Parsley or scallions (for garnish)
Directions
- Combine chickpeas, olive oil, lemon juice, tahini, and garlic in the food processor. Blend for 45 seconds.
- Scrape down sides and break up any air pockets. Add about 1/4 cup of chickpea liquid to smooth out the consistency. Blend for 15 seconds.
- If consistency needs more smoothness, add more chickpea liquid and continue blending.
- Add salt to taste.
- Pulse several times and serve in a dish.
- Drizzle with additional olive oil and garnish with parsley or scallions
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