ExperiencePlus! hosted an Open House at our new office last month and our guests requested recipe copies. We thought with the Superbowl this week it’s a perfect time to share Paola’s hummus, and Rick’s bruschetta recipes with you all.
Although hummus is not part of my Italian culinary upbringing, chickpeas (sometimes known as
garbanzo beans) are. We eat them mainly in soups, so I really took to hummus when I first tasted it.
One of the Arabic instructors in our department, who is from Lebanon, brought her home-made hummus to one of our social events and I thought it was the best I had ever tasted. Here is her recipe that you can easily cut in half.
Ingredients:
- 3 cans of organic garbanzo beans drained and rinsed (Westbrae or Private Selection work well)
- Four tablespoons of Tahini paste (Arrowhead Mills is good, but other organic brands are too)
- Juice of one large lemon (or to taste…I like it lemony!)
- 2-3 medium cloves of garlic, crushed or cut in small pieces
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- Olive oil for drizzling (extra virgin, of course!)
- Fresh (or dry) mint leaves for garnish
Step 1:
Place the beans in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 5 minutes. (If you prefer to use a dry chickpeas a pressure cooker will reduce cooking time from hours to 10 to 15 minutes. Be sure to soak the chickpeas overnight before cooking.)
Step 2:
Be sure to reserve a little of the liquid for thinning the hummus.
Step 3:
Put beans in a food processor, add all the other ingredients and blend until smooth. Scrape down the sides if the mixture isn’t smooth add some of the reserved cookin
g liquid (it always needs some in my experience!) and blend.
Step 4:
Scrape onto a plate, smooth and drizzle (don’t be shy!) with olive oil. Garnish and serve with pita bread or chips.
Step 5:
Enjoy!
You can find Rick’s bruschetta recipe here. The color contrast with the hummus makes for a lovely presentation.