Our brief courtship was an exercise in compromise. Mike helped me discover a dormant love of barbecue ribs, while I encouraged him to do crazy things like add tomatoes to his turkey sandwiches. Still, after deciding to get married I honestly wondered if his picky eating habits and my love of gastronomical experimentation would ever mesh into a coherent dinner menu.
The turning point came one afternoon shortly after Mike and I got engaged. We were on our way to a Utah football game with friends and stopped at the grocery store for some gametime snacks, one of the selections being a tub of hummus and pita bread. I thought there was no way Mike would touch the stuff with a ten-foot pole, but not five minutes later the guy who won’t eat cream cheese or onions was proclaiming his love for Middle Eastern chickpea spread. Since then he’s been converted to sushi, margherita pizza, curry, and a number of other foods that were previously on the WILL NOT EAT list. Apparently hummus is one heck of a gateway drug.
Hummus
This is a very basic recipe for hummus. I’ve kept the seasoning amounts to a minimum, since you can always put more spices in but you can’t take them out. So just start with these amounts and adjust at the end. This recipe would also be terrific with the addition of some sundried tomatoes or other colorful ingredients. I see a roasted red pepper and kalamata olive variation in my future.1 (15 oz.) can garbanzo beans
¼ cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 garlic clove, pressed
½ tsp. ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
1) Drain garbanzo beans, reserving the liquid.
2) Blend beans, 2 tablespoons of the reserved liquid, and remaining ingredients until smooth. (I used my immersion blender, but you could use a regular blender or food processor)
3) Add liquid until desired consistency is reached.
4) Adjust seasonings to taste.
5) Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of paprika, if desired.
I saw that this post and thought, "Please use tahini in this. So many people don't know what they are missing when they don't use tahini." Sure enough, you did. Tahini is what makes hummus legit.
ReplyDeleteI have a similar debacle with my husband. I grew up eating healthy. Lots of vegetables and fruit and not a lot of junk. He grew up on cream of whatever soup casserole and burritos. It's not a bad as it used to be, but a battle nonetheless.