The Humble Hummus

Now by no means is hummus a minor dish in the kitchen it is actually a very versatile dish.

The original recipe is chickpeas, tahini, garlic, salt, lemon juice and olive oil, all processed together until a smooth paste. But the variations are many and varied. Miss Fish has brought home tins on mixed chickpeas and corn kernels which have been sitting in my cupboard while I pondered what to do with them.

After reading Not Quite Nigellas recipe for hummus using a can of 4 bean mix, I thought mmmm why don't I do the same using one of the cans of chickpea/ corn combo, and I did.

http://www.notquitenigella.com/2011/08/05/easiest-four-bean-hummus/

The result was a very creamy hummus without a hint of the corn. So I got thinking could hummus be made with any type of tinned bean, yes it can my corn/chickpea combo worked at treat. A quick search on the Internet found many varied recipes using a variety of ingredients from

pumpkin

http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/recipes/15798/pumpkin-humus

rocket

http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/recipes/15795/rocket-and-mint-houmus

and even zucchini

http://courant.typepad.com/raw/2008/04/hummus-without.html

Now you don't have to only use hummus as a dip, spread it on warm souvlaki wraps place on you favourite salad ingredients like lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onion and even some crumbled feta then top with cooked lamb cubes or slices of roast lamb a squeeze of lemon juice, then roll it up and enjoy.

You can even replace the lamb with slices of chicken which have been cooked with slivers of red capsicum and slices of onion. Once again smear some hummus over warmed souvlaki wraps top with sliced lettuce then the chicken mixture, perhaps a dollop of greek yoghurt, roll up and eat.

There are many ways to enjoy hummus only your imagination holds you back. So next time you go to pick up a container of hummus from the supermarket shelf, think again go to the tinned bean isle grab a tin, get a jar of tahini - it last forever in the cupboard, then go home and whizz up a batch. When you taste it you will wonder why you didn't make your own all the time.

Now I processed mine in the little processor I have for my bamix blender, but you can use a normal blender, a mortar and pestle or even grate the garlic into a bowl use a fork to mask the beans the mix the other ingredients in well.

I also don't add olive oil, but if you find your hummus is a bit dry add a little oil.

Hummus

1 can of beans drained, 2 cloves garlic, 1 heaped dessertspoon of tahini, juice of 1 lemon approx 1 tbsp, 1/2 tsp salt

Process in any of the ways mentioned above, taste add more salt or lemon juice as needed.

Kitchen Disasters

I was reading Not Quite Nigellas post for yesterday, where she was describing a disaster she had while making custard for her beesting/bienestich cake. Lorraine posed the question, "had we ever had any disasters in the kitchen".

http://www.notquitenigella.com/2011/05/24/bienestich-cake/

Disaster with a Gateau Helene

Well it reminded me of a disasterous episode in my teens, that I still think about. I had bought a French cookbook by Greta Anna, and in the cake/gateau section there was a double page close up photo of a 4 layer Gateau Helene.

Well is was my mission to make this cake. Now part of this recipe was for ground almonds, which in the 70's (I did say I was in my teens !), you couldn't buy in the supermarket. So I had too soak the whole almonds in boiling water, then peel of the skin, then chopped them with a Zyliss chopper until fine. Then there was a lot of separating eggs and beating separately. Anyway it was made and placed in the oven. While it was cooking I did the dishes, and left the water in to wash the springform tin. Now to this day I don't know what possessed me to take the sleeve off the very hot tin, while having my hand under the base, but I did and when the sleeve released from the base it slide rapidly towards my arm, which made me jump which in turn made the cake fly from my hand, hit the sink slide across it and into the sink full of water. I stood there in horror as this cake that I had spent ages making slowly sunk !

To this day I have never attempted to make the gateau again, but thinking about it I think I will make it my mission to make one in the next month.

Overcooked peas

Now this was a funny event, at the time all I could do was laugh, it still brings a smile to my face when I recall this eventful meal. Now in our early years together Mr CLI always liked lots of red meat, with potato and vegies. The meal I was cooking was lamb mid loin chops, with mashed potato and boiled peas. Well everything started off alright, then I smelt a burning smell, I had been busy with the washing and not paying proper attention to this meal. I rushed into the kitchen to find the peas, now black stuck to the bottom of the saucepan. So into the sink that went to be covered with water. By now the chops had cooked, so I went to drain the potatoes, but to my horror these were those potatoes that one moment are hard and the next have dissolved into the water. As I was draining the potatoes I noticed that most of them were going down the plug hole and what I was left with was a grey glomp in the bottom of the saucepan that wouldn't mash. OK so the peas are burnt, the potatoes have dissolved perhaps the chops would be alright, BUT no they were tough and stringy, so into the bin they went and around to the fish and chip shop we went !

These are only a couple of mishaps in the kitchen, one tragic and one funny.

Do you have any kitchen mishaps that still terrorise you or make you laugh when you think about them ?

quilts, quilts and more quilts

Well a tidy up revealed that I have 8 quilt tops of various sizes to be put together and quilted. When my daughter is back to "work", I will start to quilt them.

I made a delicious recipe last week, a cross between a shepherds pie using a form of bolognaise sauce. I used this recipe from Not Quite Nigella but I placed the sauce on th bottom and put creamy mash potato - I didn't put any sour cream in it - then sprinkled it with cheese, tasty and parmesan.

It came out of the oven bubbling with a crisp cheesy top, my husband had seconds, he said that he would have that any time.

Link to NQN recipe - http://www.notquitenigella.com/2010/12/02/trailer-park-shepherds-pie-win-1-of-5-copies-of-mosh-potatoes-the-heavy-metal-cookbook-rated-a-o/

Until next time.